Athletics News round-up: Olympic qualification has taken on a whole new meaning for the Irish men's 400 metre relay team following last weekend's performance at the World Indoor championships.

Although the bronze medals won in Budapest won't impact on their chances of making Athens next August, it has given them greater confidence to chase down qualification over the coming months.

For the first time the relays at the Athens Olympics will be made up of the top 16 national teams, based on the world rankings from January 1st of last year until next July 21st. The Olympic Council of Ireland have made that process slightly more difficult by bringing forward their final cut-off date for qualification to July 3rd.

The new Irish indoor record of three minutes, 8.83 seconds which the team set when qualifying for Sunday's final in Budapest won't come close to making that top 16. Their time in the final was 3:10.44, still an impressive run considering the dramatic nature of the race, which first saw the second man on the Bahamas team fall. The Americans then dropped the baton on the last leg and were later disqualified, with the Irish moving from fourth to third as a result.

And it was superb effort from the quartet of Robert Daly, Gary Ryan, David Gillick and David McCarthy - who together claimed Ireland's first relay medals on a world stage. But still there is no disguising the fact that Ireland's best 400 metre runner, Paul McKee, who was absent from Budapest through injury, can help bring the team closer to the sort of time they'll need to qualify for Athens.

McKee holds the Irish record of 45.58 seconds from 2002 and was on the Irish team that produced the current outdoor relay record of 3:03.73, set at the European championships in Munich that same summer. Daly and McCarthy were also on that the team, with the fourth man being Antoine Burke - not regarded as a 400 metre specialist.

In fact another of Ireland's better 400 metre runners, Tomás Coman, is on the verge of making a comeback from a long lay-off with injury. His injection of talent into the team - along with McKee - would help create a quartet well capable of improving that Irish record to closer to three minutes, which would almost certainly get them to Athens.

On leaving Budapest yesterday, Elaine Fitzgerald, the high performance director with Athletics Ireland, outlined the process that she believes can result in Olympic qualification.

"We'll sit down very soon and decide how and where they can best go for it," she said. "There are several good opportunities in the weeks ahead, including a few meetings down in the Caribbean in May and in Poland in early June. We also have the European Cup to consider. And then the Cork City Sports on July 3rd.

Interestingly, when the team ran the Irish record in 2002 they ended up 23rd on the overall world rankings. But several of the times ahead of them were achieved by American clubs or colleges, and discounting those times they were in fact the 16th best national team.

What is certain is the current quartet all improved their sports grant situation, with their top six placing in the world taking them into the €19,500-bracket. They'll also share the $20,000 in prize money that comes with their bronze medals.

Considering McCarthy and Gillick are only 20, and Daly is still reaching his full potential at 26, the future of 400 metre running in the country continues to look brighter.

Ryan was the veteran among them at aged 31 but after years of trying his medal was easily the most deserved. Two other Irish athletes have greatly improved their grant situation as a result of their performances in Budapest. In making the high jump final and finishing eighth, Adrian O'Dwyer comes into the world class level for the first time, which is worth €11,500 at this level. Maria McCambridge, who finished ninth in the 3,000 metres final, had previously been on world class level as a result of her role in the Irish team winning bronze medals at the World Cross Country championships in 2002.

But only last January McCambridge learned that she'd failed to qualify for a grant for the coming year.

Now she returns to the world class bracket, something she fully deserves after her courageous efforts in Budapest. Olympic qualification for those two athletes would also be the logical progression.