Looking at the stats from the season so far you'd have a handful of Irish medal prospects. Derval O'Rourke would have to be fancied to make an impression, she's been knocking a couple of marks off her personal best in a few races since she's come back this season and seems to have the temperament for the major championships. The home backing, along with the fastest time this year, for Susanna Kallur may make her favourite but there's no reason why O'Rourke shouldn't be in the final and pushing for a medal. Right now, her time is seventh fastest for the year but another few tenths could be knocked off that.

Best stat of all goes to Alistair Cragg who's top of the list for 5,000m times in 2006 for European runners. That was set in New York earlier in the summer and though Cragg has struggled in a few races since, they were mainly 1500m races he was advised to run in preparation for the Euros.

Other than that, we've got Dave Gillick in wonderful form at 400m, number 12 in Europe and just after setting a substantial personal best. We have James Nolan in the 1500m who's more than capable of reaching a final. We've Marie Davenport in the women's 5,000m who's sixth in Europe this year and Roisin McGettigan who blasted her personal best to shreds in the 3,000m steeplechase to bring her to seventh in Europe. So, watch out for a few final places during the week and the hope of one or two medals to go along with it. The feeling is that coming home with such a haul from a young team would be a success.

More than anything though it is a young team Ireland are taking to these championships. Of the 29 athletes going to Sweden, only two are over 30, with most averaging around the 24/25 age mark.

The vast majority are aiming to be hitting their peak for Beijing, something the team themselves have admitted, so the experience as much as anything will be looked to here.