O’Rourke plans final hurdleto prepare for Gothenburg
Fresh from her new national record (12.85 secs) at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki on Wednesday night, she is hoping for a place in the line-up in Nuremberg on Sunday afternoon.
“Andy Norman has been working on that and we are hopeful,” her coach, Jim Kilty, said last night. “We really feel she needs that one more race because I know that her race in Helsinki was worth 12.78 secs.”
He was reflecting on a disastrously slow start — .209 secs compared to her normal .128 to .138 reaction time — which cost her a really fast time.
“Having said all that, we were very happy with the closing part of the race,” he said. “She was coming on very strong at the finish and that was important. In the past she was always left over the last five hurdles but now we think all that has been sorted.”
As regards Gothenburg, he said little has changed, pointing out that their target has always been a final place.
“With all the injuries, etc, the aim was to get the final in Gothenburg. That has always been our target. We always felt if we got to the final she had a chance, and nothing has changed.
“I know the two races in Gothenburg will bring her on a ton. She really thrives on that type of racing. She loves the atmosphere and she loves the hype that surrounds it.”
After her big runs in Cork, where she equalled her national record (12.96 secs), Athens, Lausanne (where she reduced the record to 12.92 secs) and Helsinki, one more race could put the finishing touches on near-perfect, if somewhat short, preparation for the European Championships.
“We would then have a week of training and rest before leaving for Gothenburg on Tuesday week to join the Irish team,” he said.
It now looks as if she will definitely be joined by her training partner, Ciara Sheehy, who has been named for the 200m in the squad.
After an exciting spell, culminating in a 23.23-second run at the Lee Strand International in Castleisland, she suffered an injury at the AAA Championships in Manchester as a result of which she missed the nationals last weekend.
“We feel she is over that. She is almost there,” Kilty said referring to exceptional training sessions this week.
Apart from her runs over 100m, she has been running on the spot and doing exercises which do not involve extension of the legs.
“We have been using a viper belt which offers slight resistance but there is no extension of the hamstring,” he said. “The way things are looking I think she is ready to run 23 seconds flat when she goes to Gothenburg. She was shaping that way in recent weeks and now I feel she is back on course.”
She will miss tomorrow afternoon’s Dublin International, however, as she is still at the precautionary stage of her recuperation.
“We would like to get a race somewhere on Tuesday or Wednesday just to give her a run in advance of Gothenburg,” he said.
Meanwhile Paul Hession, who also missed the national championships through injury, will make his return in the 200m at the Dublin International.
He had a seasonal best of 20.75 secs behind him when he picked up the injury and now, after missing the national championships, is looking for an indicator of his current form in advance of the European Championships.
Colin Costello, the European junior 1,500m champion, looks likely to spearhead the Irish challenge in the featured Morton Mile at the meet.
The favourite will be South African Johan Cronje who recently ran 3:36.73 for 1,500m and 1:45 for 800m. One of the US athletes in the field, Anthony Famigletti, has a 3:55.71 mile behind him this season.
Missing will be Alistair Cragg and James Nolan who both compete in the 1,500m at tonight’s Norwich Union Grand Prix at Crystal Palace.
Cragg, the reigning European indoor 3,000m champion, has been searching for his early season form — 13:08 for 5,000m in New York — in recent times and while he is running below distance tonight, a big race would be a perfect boost before the Europeans.
Nolan has seasonal bests in his last three races over 1,500m and he is confident that he can run 3:35 or even 3:34 before the end of the season.
“Hopefully that will be at the European championships,” he said.
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