Cragg makes Olympic final

Alistair Cragg led the field early on in the 5000 metres semi-finals

Ireland's Alistair Cragg has qualified for the 5000 metres final at the Olympics after a strong run in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

The South African-born Cragg qualified as a fastest loser in 13:23.01 but Mark Carroll did not get through.

Carroll ran in the second semi-final and set the pace early on in a bid to make it faster than the first run.

But he faded towards the latter stages and was unable to join 24-year-old Cragg in Saturday's final.

Cragg is the only European representative to seal a place in the final which is scheduled to start at 1905 BST.

Carroll finished 15th in his heat in a time of 13:46.81 - some 28 seconds outside his best time this season.

Afterwards, the Corkman laid much of the blame for his disappointing performance on the Olympic Council of Ireland's initial decision to insist on a qualifying deadline on 3 July.

"It's hard to be running well in May and June and come out and run well in August against the best in the world," said Carroll.

"I ran 13:18 in May in California. That would have got me through to the final. I should have been running 13:18 in July.

"You can't peak and hold that peak for a long period of time.

"Some people maybe from African countries who are incredibly conditioned can do but it's very difficult for us."

Carroll, who said that he had "probably over-trained" during his build-up to the Games in recent weeks in St Moritz, now plans to run more marathons.

The Corkman ran 2:10 on his debut over the 26 miles in New York in 2002 although he dropped out of this year's London Marathon.

Men's 5000m final line-up: 1 Abraham Chebii (Ken), 2 Dejene Berhanu (Eth), 3 Alistair Cragg (Irl), 4 Ali Saidi Sief (Alg), 5 Abderrahim Goumri (Mor), 6 Gebre Egziabher Gebremariam (Eth), 7 Samir Moussaoui (Alg), 8 Hicham Bellani (Mor), 9 Zersenay Tadesse (Eri), 10 Eliud Kipchoge (Ken), 11 Kenenisa Bekele (Eth), 12 Hicham El Guerrouj (Mor), 13 John Kibowen (Ken), 14 Craig Mottram (Aus), 15 Tim Broe (USA).