Athletics Ireland impose higher qualification standards for junior athletes

A few months ago, it was announced that only senior athletes who qualified for the tougher 'A' standard would qualify for the 2012 Olympics. Now it seems that Athletics Ireland are also using a tougher 'A' standard to select junior athletes for next summer's World Junior Championships in Barcelona.

This marks a new effort by Athletics Ireland to ensure that athletes travelling to major championships in future are capable of obtaining a podium or top 8 to 12 finish. They came up with their 'A' standards by studying the top 8 to 12 performances at the last three World Junior Championships.

The International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) standards for next July's U-20 Championships in Barcelona include 47.95 and 1:51.00 for men's 400m and 800m respectively. Athletics Ireland's world junior 'A' standards for 400m/800m/1,500m have been set at 46.95/1:48.35/3:46.30, all considerably faster than the IAAF's. In the case of women's 1,500m, the Irish 'A' standard is 4:19.85, over eight seconds faster than the IAAF's (4:28), while the 'A' mark that AAI have set for women's 3,000m (9:25) is a full 10 seconds faster.