Busy O’Rourke gets ready to take on the world
The Cork athlete will race at the Samsung Diamond League in Crystal Palace on Saturday and defend her 100m hurdles title at the Woodies DIY national championships at Morton Stadium, Santry, on Sunday.
The Diamond League meeting will pit her against the top 100m hurdlers in the world headed by Olympic silver medallist, Sally Pearson (Australia), and sensational new addition to the Great Britain team, Tiffany Ofili-Porter.
Pearson will be the favourite for Daegu where O’Rourke will be gunning for a place in the final where she would again fancy her chances of a medal — she was fractions away from a podium position when she finished fourth in Berlin two years ago.
“I look at things and I analyse them,” she said.
“You are going to have to run low 12.7s to make the final. It is one of those events where there are really competitive girls and they don’t ever hide from each other. They race each other all the time, everybody knows how many times they have beaten everybody else so nobody is going to go there switched off. I know I have to go there and be better than Berlin.”
But, ultimately, everything is geared towards next year’s Olympics and while she has not been setting the world alight with her times she cannot hide her delight at the way her training has gone.
“I won my last race in Budapest in 12.99 seconds but, technically, I was terrible. I was really unhappy with the way I hurdled and my coach, Sean [Cahill], who was there with me was probably unhappier. It was so frustrating because the hurdles were not good at all.
“I’ll just have to work on it so every session between now and the world championships is really important. Then it would probably be unlike me to start getting things right during the season so I need to accept it and just keep working on it.”
Achieving the A standard for next year’s Olympics so early took some of the pressure off her but it also proved she can run faster once she puts all the pieces together. When she ran 12.84 seconds in Le Chaux De Fonds it was the fastest time she had ever done outside of a major championships.
“I was really happy,” she said. “It’s nice to say you have the A standard but, to be honest, I would never go to London if I thought all I could do was the A standard — 12.96 — but it is still a box you have to tick.
“This year has been very different because in other years I’ve had problems and a lot of the times my races have reflected those — little injuries or a little bit sick — but this year, between indoors and outdoors, everything has gone exactly the way I wanted it to go and it’s the first time in a long time that’s happened to me.
“I’m frustrated that I have not run as well in races as I have been running in training. At the same time I have that thing at the back of my mind that I know it’s about Daegu. I won in Budapest the other night but I hurdled terribly. I made really bad mistakes that I don’t make in training. I’ve just been a bit angry and frustrated with myself.”
She will end her pre-championship racing schedule over the coming days with Crystal Palace on Sunday and then either Germany or Loughborough midweek.
“There is a heat and final in Crystal Palace so hopefully I’ll get two races in.” she said.
“I have a flight back to Dublin at 6.40 on Saturday evening so it will be straight from the track to Gatwick Airport. Obviously in terms of time the important race will be on Saturday but then I love the national championships so it is important for me to come out and run on Sunday. I like having national titles.
“I missed (the) nationals with a chest infection two years ago. I have won every year I’ve competed (in) since 2000 when Susan Smith beat me. I remember being beaten by her back then and I have won the rest of them. I don’t count them or anything but I enjoy it. I have a meet in Germany on Tuesday or a meet in Loughborough on Wednesday.
“They are not so sure if they will run hurdles at the German meet because Carolyn Nytra has been injured so I will probably go to Loughborough on Wednesday because Jessica Ennis is there. It’s really low key.”
CIARAN Ó LIONAIRD (Leevale) achieved the ‘A’ standard for next year’s Olympic Games and the upcoming world championships when he posted the fourth fastest 1500m time by an Irishman at 3:34.46 in Oordegem, Belgium on Tuesday night.
The achievement came in the most unusual of circumstances as, on Saturday night, he had told Ireland’s new European U23 silver medallist Brian Gregan that he would be ending his season at the Woodies DIY National championships in Santry on Sunday.
They had just competed in a meeting bitterly cold conditions in Ghent, where Gregan won the 400m in 46.29 secs and Brian Murphy (Crusaders AC) finished third in 46.79. Ó Lionaird had finished second in the 1500m in 3:41.34.
“He was sitting up at the bar eating a burger and drinking a beer and he said he would not be training after the championships at the weekend,” Gregan recalled. “Then he goes out and knocks six seconds off his best time for 1500m without telling anyone.”
His coach at Leevale, Der O’Donovan, added: “It was just a local meeting and a number of athletes who are living in the area asked the meet director if he would put on a 1500m for athletes chasing the qualifying standard for the world championships.”
The time places him fourth on the all-time Irish ranking list behind Longford’s Ray Flynn, who ran 3:33.5 during a world record mile in Olso in 1982, three-time world indoor champion Marcus O’Sullivan, who ran 3:33.61 in Monaco in 1996 and two-time world indoor 3,000m champion Frank O’Mara from Limerick, who ran 3:34.02 in Brussels in 1985.
Ó Lionaird will run the 5,000m in Santry on Sunday and will then return to Tallahassee to link up with his college coach Bob Bramon. From there he will jet out to Daegu.
