Sommer one of four NI stars set for Euro mission

FOUR Northern Ireland athletes have been selected to represent Ireland as part of a 16-strong team in next week’s European Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

Athletics NI are delighted with the announcement, which includes a trio who will be making their senior debut.

They are Sommer Lecky (right) of Finn Valley (high jump), Lauren Roy of

City of Lisburn

(60m) and Annadale’s Conall Kirk (800m).

Ciara Mageean of UCD is picked for the 1500m, where she is currently ranked fifth in Europe.

The 26-year-old multi-Irish record holder just missed out on the medals in last year’s outdoor Europeans in Berlin.

Lecky (18) achieved the worldclass qualification standard of 1.90m for the high jump when taking silver in last year’s World Juniors.

She will be in the company of classy team-mates Molly Scott and Ciara Neville, who were silver medallists in the World Junior sprint relay last summer.

Roy (18) ran a time of 7.39secs for the short sprint two weeks ago.

Kirk, who ran a PB last week of 1.48.95 over 800m, is a member of an illustrious family — father Mark is a former NI record holder, while sister Katie competed in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Meanwhile, Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya’s appeal against a regulation restricting testosterone levels in female runners began yesterday — as the head of world athletics again defended the rule.

IAAF president Lord Coe said it would “protect the sanctity of fair and open competition”.