Athletics round-up: Derval O'Rourke's astonishing rise through the world athletics ranks has been rewarded with a gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in Moscow.
The Cork athlete, who only broke the eight second mark a matter of four weeks ago, broke her own Irish record in the process, as she held off the challenge of Spain's Glory Alozie and Susanna Kallur of Sweden to win in a time of 8.84 seconds.
Just 0.03 seconds separated the medallists.
"There was no one girl coming here who I thought could beat me so I came here to win it," she told reporters after the race.
O'Rourke, who has never won a major title before, said she was sure she had gold when she crossed the line but waited for official confirmation.
"I thought, 'What if I start celebrating and I haven't won it?' So I just sat there. Then I thought, 'Lap it up! How often does this happen?'"
O'Rourke, the youngest athlete in the field, becomes just the second Irish woman to win a world indoor medal after Sonia O'Sullivan finished second in the 3,000 metres in 1997.
James Nolan was unable to press for a place on the podium in the 1,500m final, coming home in sixth place. Nolan, who won his heat yesterday, had harboured ambitions of a medal but was always off the pace in a final won but Ivan Heshko of the Ukraine.
Heshko crossed the line in a time of 3 minutes, 42.08 seconds to take the gold medal, just over a second faster than the Irishman.
Earlier, both Maria McCambridge and Roisin McGettigan failed to make an impression in the 3,000m final, finishing 10th and 13th respectively, while David McCarthy trailed home last in his 400m semi-final.
Meanwhile, Sonia O'Sullivan's selection for Australia's Commonwealth Games remains in question after officials ordered an investigation.
O'Sullivan, who was granted Australian citizenship less than seven weeks ago, has been selected to represent Australia where she lives and trains about half the year.
Athletes normally have to sit out international competition for three years before they can represent another country, but the clause does not apply to the Commonwealth Games.
O'Sullivan, 36, has also said she wants to compete for Ireland at this year's European championships, raising concerns that she has exposed a "loophole" in the rules.
Mike Hooper, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation, told Australian newpapers on Saturday the federation would meet on Sunday to vote on changing the rules.
"I don't want to personalise it, but the loophole makes an absolute mockery (of the Games)," he said. "I am making the recommendation to my board to close the loophole. I am 100 per cent confident it will be passed, but I can't predict when the board will determine for it to be applied.
"Whether it will be immediate or it will be post-Games, that is something they will debate."