Lynch shows his class again, as does Hession

There was two brilliant performances by Irish athletes today.

Denis Lynch today posted his worst result of the show jumping event so far, but he has qualified for the final in eight position. Lynch recorded six penalty points in his third outing of the competition so far. Four of the points were for the one fence he toppled, while two were as a result of going over the 88 second time limit. Lynch goes into Thursday's final and if he can repeat the form of the last three runs, a medal won't be far off.

Paul Hession was also brilliant today in his 200 metres heat and later in the quarter-final. Hession finished in third place in a time of 20.59 seconds and ran a sensational quarter-final, winning it in a time of 20:32, a seasons best. Hession is in great form and looked relaxed throughout, he seems to have peaked at the right time and has plenty left in the tank.

It wasn't such a great day for the other Irish athletes.

David Gillick finished in fourth place in the last heat of the 400m qualifying round on Sunday, but failed to post a sufficiently quick time to progress to the semi-finals. Gillick ran one of his first races of the season and it is clear he peaked too early in the year. David is still young and will have many major championships to come and he should learn to prepare better in the future.

Hammer thrower Eileen O'Keefe also failed in her bid to qualify for the final of the Olympic competition. O'Keefe was disappointing in her opening two rounds but sent her third throw beyond the 67 metre mark. In the end, the Kilkenny woman was just over one metre short of qualifying for the final stage of the competition. The medal hope was carrying an injury going into the games, which is the likely reason that she failed to reach the qualifying standard that was well short of her personal best.

Emma Davis finished 37th in the Triathlon, just over eight minutes behind the gold medallist. Davis lost a small bit of time in the water and then came in just over two minutes behind the leading cyclists. But the gruelling 10km run proved very challenging for Ireland's first Olympic triathlon competitor, where Davis lost a further six minutes on the eventual winner. Emma is still very young and the future bodes well for her.

In Sailing, Peter O'Leary & Stephen Milne took 12th in race five, 13th in race six and seven in the Star class. With three races left, they lie only 8 points off 10th place but a medal is very unlikely.

Ciara Peelo took 25th in race five, 18th in race eight and 10th in race nine to finish 20th overall in the Laser Radial class 2008 Olympic Regatta. The Laser Radial opening series was concluded after just nine races and only the top 10 boats will compete in the final medal race. Peelo finishes in 20th therefore exits the competition at this stage.