Records and experience order of day for Irish in Serbia

The World Indoor Athletics Championships start today in Belgrade, the first event of a busy year for Irish athletes.

After these world indoors, world outdoors in Oregon in July, quickly followed by the Commonwealth Games for some in Birmingham, and they then lead into European Athletics Championships in Munich in mid August.

Team Ireland has 19 athletes involved over the weekend and they'll want to bring some of their recent form to the Stark Arena and better it in a competitive environment against some of the world's best. It's one of the strongest teams we've sent to an indoors, with many of our team having set PBs and national records in this season already.

Indoor is a bit different with tighter bends and shorter laps but what I like about this team is that it's young, confident and in form. At this stage the computer is programmed, the preparation is done, each athlete will have their own particular way of staying relaxed in these final moments before competition.

Startlists will be released and you'll be made aware of who is in your heat and, particularly for our middle distance runners, they can begin to visualise what type of race they're going to face; will it be a case of the pace being fast from the start, or a bunched race with a late kick.

There will be conversations with coaches on what way to approach the race, their tactics, and thinking about qualifying times and targets. For some of our younger athletes and debutants at this level, it's time to rub shoulders with athletes you've watched on TV, no time get caught in awe.

So how they deal with that, and the nerves that might come with it, will dictate how good a championships this can be for Team Ireland.

Irish Interest

What would success mean for our men and