Hession thrilled to book Olympic place

SPRINTER Paul Hession admitted it was “a big relief” to qualify for next year’s Olympic Games in London when he produced a superb run to win the 200m title at the National Championships in Santry Stadium on Sunday.

The 28-year old Athenry athlete started well and powered his way ahead of a strong field, which included European U-23 finalist Steven Colvert in a time of 20.51 – good enough to secure his place at the 2012 Olympics.

Hession knew he had run a good race, producing his best performance of the year so far, and was immediately informed that he had beaten the A standard of 20.60 for the World Championships and the Olympic Games.

“It’s a big relief to get the qualification for the Olympics sorted at this stage,” he told Tribune Sport. “That was the plan, to get it sorted before the World Championships so that I won’t have any distractions when I get to Korea. I was just about on schedule!

“I am just going to go back training now, in Scotland, and the main thing now is that I can plan for the next year, right up to the Olympic Games. There are some good young lads coming through, which is great, and it was great to have a proper race on Saturday.”

The win, and especially the time, brought an end to weeks of frustration for the Athenry man, who had failed to get his time below 20.70 this summer due to a combination of poor starts and poor weather conditions at the races he has competed in.

Read full interview in Tribune Sport.