Focus on.........Irish Sprinter Paul Hession

Event: 200 metres.
Who is he? The 29-year-old Galway man is the fastest man in Ireland. A native of Athenry and a member of Athernry AC, Paul Hession holds the Irish record over 100 and 200 metres.
Road to London: Paul qualified for the Olympics when he ran 20.51 at the National Track and Field Championships in Santry last August, four hundredths of a second inside the 'A' standard of 20.55.
Medal chances: Paul's personal best of 20.30 seconds hasn’t been enough to win an Olympic medal since 1992. His aim is to make it into the final and be in the top 8 of the world.

Here are Paul Hessions best times outdoors over the last few years. For reference, the current 'A' standard for the Olympics is 10.18 for the 100m and 20.55 for the 200m

Progression - Outdoor
Season    Performance    Wind    Place    Date
100 Metres    2010    10.46    0.7    Hengelo    30/05/2010
2009    10.34    0.7    Ostrava    17/06/2009
2008    10.21    1.9    Cork    12/07/2008
2007    10.18    1.9    Vaasa    23/06/2007
2005    10.46    -0.3    Fribourg    27/08/2005


200 Metres    2012    20.54    0.4    Luzern    17/07/2012
2011    20.51    0.6    Dublin (Santry)    06/08/2011
2010    20.46    0.4    Lausanne    08/07/2010
2010    20.46    1.2    Budapest    20/06/2010
2009    20.40    0.4    London (CP)    25/07/2009
2008    20.32    0.3    Beijing (National Stadium)    18/08/2008
2007    20.30    0.1    Dublin    21/07/2007
2006    20.56    1.0    Malmö    22/08/2006
2005    20.86    1.1    Fribourg    27/08/2005
2004    20.61    -0.2    Thessaloníki    19/07/2004
2003    20.80    0.2    Daegu    28/08/2003
2002    21.03    1.4    Kingston, JAM    18/07/2002

Paul Hession was interviewed recently by Matt Cooper of the Last Word programme on Today FM. Paul is on from 6:05 to 12:10 and 16:34 to 17:35. You can download the audio file HERE