O’Rourke beats the heat to seal semi-final place
Last year’s world indoor 60m hurdles champion and European 100m hurdles silver medallist got her campaign off to a nervous start in searing heat yesterday morning.
Quick away from the blocks, a confident pick-up and then her hallmark fighting finish saw her through among the ‘fastest losers’ after she had finished fourth behind champion, Michelle Perry (USA) in 12.91 secs.
It was a job well done rather than something spectacular from the Cork athlete but it is worth noting that 12.91 seconds is her fastest ever start to a championship campaign and her second fastest time of what has been something of an up and down season.
Michelle Perry, the winner of the heat in 12.72 secs, was never going to be a target but O’Rourke was close enough to Sally McLellan (Australia), 12.85 secs and Adrianna Lamalle (France) 12.88 secs to warrant a place in the final.
“This was about the best I could hope for,” she said. “Just survive the first round because it was roasting.
“Now I’m just looking forward to going into the night rounds as this was always going to be torture for me.
“I was a little bit off in the warm-up area so I was under a bit of pressure to get it together.
“It felt very, very hot even behind the blocks. But this is the worst time of the day and tomorrow night the temperature will be totally different.”
She admitted she was nervous but that was to be expected coming from the type of campaign she had gone through in the championship lead-up.
“This was always going to be the most nerve-wracking round because I think once I get past the first round I can start looking at a final and that is what it has been all about,” she said.
“I am not wonderful in first rounds. My history is not good. I ran 13.00 in Gothenburg last year. I really had to make myself move because I had it at the back of my mind that it’s the semi-final and the final I am targeting. Maybe I should not but I think I am an athlete of that calibre.
“Now that I have reached the semi-final stages of the competition it is serious business — not like [yesterday] morning when it was just hardcore hurdling, up at 6am and that type of thing.
“I was a little bit sleepy and not as sharp as I would like it to be but in the semi-finals I will run quicker. But that 12.91 tells me a lot.”
She faces a tough task in her semi-final — the second of two with four from each to qualify for tomorrow’s final.
In what must be a familiar inside lane, she renews rivalry with Michelle Perry, Sally McLellan and Adrianna Lamalle and they are joined by the American champion, Ginnie Powell, who became the first woman to beat Perry since July 2006 when she won the US title and she appeared to have Perry at her mercy again before crashing out at the Golden League Meeting in Paris.
All of her seven opponents have run faster than her this year but she was dismissing that.
“Anything can happen,” she insisted. “It will be top four to go through and I prefer it that way. If you are a racer and if you are competitive on the night then you are through. That’s the way I am looking at it.
“Having said that, I need to pb and then hope that it will be good enough. But I have always done well in championships and now it is just a matter of putting the head down, run like hell, get top four and a final place.”
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