O’Rourke aims to get back on medal trail in Belfast opener

DERVAL O’ROURKE will follow the same path that took her to world indoor gold and European outdoor silver medals last year when she launches her indoor season at the Irish indoor championships at the Odyssey Arena in Belfast at the end of January.

Ireland’s star hurdler — the only Irish female athlete to win a world indoor title — blamed the fact that she had to miss the indoor season through injury for her loss of outdoor form this year and she does not intend to allow that to happen again — confirming yesterday that she will be in action in Belfast on January 26-27.

At the 2006 world indoor championships in Moscow, O’Rourke created a major upset when she won the 60m hurdles title. Over that weekend she broke the Irish record twice to defeat Olympic silver medallist Glory Alozie from Spain in 7.84 seconds.