ATHLETICS:HERE WE go again. Derval O'Rourke ready to fight it out for a place in another 100 metres hurdles final and, yes, hopefully fight it out for the medals too. But even without the presence of the Americans and Jamaicans it's no less daunting a prospect than last year's World Championships in Berlin, when she finished fourth.
O’Rourke will need to reproduce the terrific display of four years ago in Gothenburg when she won the European silver medal, out of lane one, in a national record. There are at least eight hurdlers here who can medal, so even though she’s walked the walk before, O’Rourke is not about to talk the talk.
“No, I know how hard it is to win medals,” she says, “probably more than many others because I’ve won medals, and I’ve also gone out in the first round. So I would never turn around and say that I’m going to win a medal, because no one has any guarantee. Anyone can fall, or false start. There are no guarantees until you come to the finish of a final.”
Indeed, O’Rourke has to get herself into that final first, and goes in the first of two semi-finals (6.05pm Irish) knowing the top three and two fastest losers will make the final, scheduled for 80 minutes later. Judging by her qualifying heat yesterday morning, which she won in a season-best 12.88 seconds, that shouldn’t be beyond her. Yet she’s drawn the top-ranked German Carolin Nytra again, plus the vastly improved Turk, Nevin Yanit.
O’Rourke beat Nytra into second yesterday. But the German has run 12.57 this year, compared to O’Rourke’s lifetime best of 12.67.
“I still think Nytra is the favourite. But I don’t know how many events the favourite wins or even makes the top three. Regardless of that, I know I’ll have to work my bum off in the semi-finals. You can’t hold back, and if you run slower there’s actually a higher percentage of making mistakes. There is also massive depth in the event, so I won’t be holding back at all.”
Christina Vukicevic also looked superb in qualifying in 12.83, as did the Russian Tatyana Dektyareva, in 12.86, although they go in the other semi-final.
“Of course you have a chance,” says O’Rourke, “but then anyone can beat me on any day, the same as I can beat anyone on my day. So you just hope it will be my day, not theirs.”
Alistair Cragg must take a similar mindset into his 5,000m final, which sets off at 8.20pm. He may only have qualified as a fastest loser, although Cragg is ranked sixth fastest in the field this season in 13:21.66. But the fear is he won’t have the finishing speed of the medal contenders, which include Britain’s 10,000m champion Mo Farah and defending champion Jesus Espana from Spain.
TODAY
09:05 Marathon Women – Final
09:10 Discus Men Qual Gr A
09:15 4x100m Men Round 1
09:45 4x100m Women Round 1 (from N Whelan, D O'Rourke, K Proper, A McSweeney, C Brady, A Foster)
10:15 Heptathlon - Long Jump Qual
10:20 4x400m Men Round 1 (from D Gillick, B Gregan, G Kennedy, B Murphy, D McCarthy)
10:40 Discus Men Qua. Gr B
10:50 4x400m Women Round 1 (from J Cuddihy, M Carey, J Kinney, B Furlong, M Heffernan, C Bergin)
15:15 Heptathlon - Javelin Gr A
17:00 Heptathlon - Javelin Gr B
17:00 Pole Vault Men – Final
17:30 Shot Put Men – Final
18:05 100m hurdles Women Semi-final (D O'Rourke)
18:10 Triple Jump Women – Final
18:35 800m Men – Final
18:50 200m Women – Final
19:05 Javelin Men – Final
19:10 400m hurdles Men – Final
19:25 100m hurdles Women – Final
19:45 Heptathlon - 800m
20:20 5,000m Men – Final (A Cragg)
TOMORROW
09:05 Marathon Men – Final
18:30 High Jump Women – Final
18:35 4x100m Men – Final
18:45 Discus Men – Final
18:50 4x100m Women – Final
19:10 Long Jump Men – Final
19:15 3,000m Sc Men – Final
19:40 5,000m Women – Final
20:15 1,500m Women – Final
20:40 4x400m Women – Final
20:55 4x400m Men – Final
