Limerick athlete Ciara Neville competes at IAAF World Indoor Championships

LIMERICK athlete Ciara Neville competes in the 60m heats at the IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham this Friday morning.

Teenager Neville, of Emerald AC, will get her championships underway in the women’s 60m heats which begin at 10.35am.

Eighteen-year-old Castletroy College student Neville has a personal best of 7.30 seconds for the 60m indoors, while her season’s best time is 7.34.

Neville, coached by Noelle Morrissey, finished in third place at the Irish Life Health National Indoor Championships in the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena in Abbotstown last month in an impressive time of 7.35 seconds.

Reacting to her selection for the prestigious World Indoor Championships, Ciara Neville Tweeted: “Couldn’t be happier to be selected to represent Ireland at the @iaaf_athletics World Indoor Champs in less than two weeks time.

“Grateful to @athleticsireland for this opportunity and excited to go out and give it my best!.”

The IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham will be televised live on BBC 2 and Eurosport.

The semi-finals in the women’s 60m are due to take place at 6.50pm on Friday night.

The warm favourite for 60m glory will be Marie Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, following victory in Torun and Glasgow.

The 29-year-old world outdoor 100m and 200m silver medalist has been in consistent fine form all winter and sped to a 7.07 season’s best in Scotland last weekend.