Irish delight as Hession and Derval power to semi-finals
Earlier in the day David Gillick had earned automatic qualification for the semi-final of the 400m and Hession and O’Rourke took the same route.
Hession, a semi-finalist at the Beijing Olympics last year, finished third behind Steve Mullings (Jamaica) and Ramil Guliyev (Azerbaijan) in last night’s quarter-final of the 200m.
Mullings won in 20.23 secs to 20.40 secs for Guliyev while Hession had Brendan Christian behind him when he finished third in 20.48 and the Antiguan had to take the route of the fastest losers.
Earlier in the day, Hession had put in a storming finish for second place behind Mullings in his first round heat.
This evening he will face Mullings again in their semi-final as they both avoid Usain Bolt with the first four in each semi-final to go through. The fifth fastest man on the all-time list, Wallace Spearmon (USA), who was disqualified for running out of his lane in Beijing last year, is also in the line-up, along with the new kid on the block, Ramil Guliyev, who goes in with a personal best of 20.04 secs.
Hession had been hoping he would get Lane 7 but does not mind Lane 8.
“I would rather Lane 7 but the last two years I have run really well out of Lane 8 in Crystal Palace,” he said. “I ran out of Lane 8 in the world athletics final last year and came second. I can run out of 8 no bother. I would prefer it to one or two.”
He admitted that yesterday morning’s heat was tough: “I was very unlucky with my heat draw,” he said. “When guys start running too slow in a morning session, it can throw things up.
“But I was happy with tonight’s run. I was where I wanted to be coming off the bend. I am normally a strong finisher but I was prepared for the Azerbaijani going away from me because he is a really strong finisher.
“I was delighted to beat Brendan Christian because he is a finalist. I am looking forward to the semi-final. I have two years experience of this level – I came sixth in Osaka, fifth in Beijing – there is a upward curve there.
“I just have to run and focus on myself but how quick I have to run, I don’t know. I’m surprised by the times tonight, I’ll be honest. I am shocked. I don’t know what’s going on – there must be a wind on that bend or something because they don’t add up.
“I ran 20.32 in my quarter final in Beijing and I feel that was just as good a run tonight. It’s weird.
“It is not about times at this stage. It is more important that I make the final than I run 20.2. It’s better for Ireland and for me that I beat as many people as possible. This is a tough event.”
After months of frustration, Derval O’Rourke turned her season around in dramatic fashion when she ran her third fastest time ever at 12.66 secs for second place in her heat of the 100m hurdles, which was won by the Olympic silver medallist and fastest woman in the field out here, Sally McLellan (Australia) in 12.82 secs.
Michelle Perry (USA), the two-time world champion, finished seventh with a heavily bandaged leg.
This evening a fired-up O’Rourke has an outstanding chance of making it through to the final of the competition from a semi-final that also includes McLellan, Eline Berings (Belgium), Lacena Golding-Clarke (Jamaica), the Olympic champion Dawn Harper (USA) and her old sparring partner, Sarah Claxton (Great Britain).
If she can reproduce yesterday’s start, which had her up challenging McLellan for the lead up to and beyond halfway, she has to be fancied to make it into the top four.
“I knew I was close to running quick all season,” she said. “It is good to do it here. Today was the worst. I was so nervous about the heat. Once you are out of your heat you’ve got nothing to lose. I can wait now for the semi-finals.
“Halfway through the race I noticed I was up with the Australian. I was surprised by that and got a bit distracted and I said ‘I got to keep running’ so I think there is a lot more there.
“In the past two weeks, since I got over my chest infection, things have gone really, really well and I was saying ‘God I wish I could get straight into the final because I would bet on myself winning a medal if I was straight in’.
“The next two races are hard – the heat and the semi – all season I felt I could break my personal best if I could just hit it right.
“At the European Cup, I got hurt at the fifth hurdle and I think I was on for my national record in that race. I tried to keep the head.
“Right now I would not give a damn if I just ran a pb here. I don’t care about the rest of the season.
“Now we have three semis so now it is top two and two fastest to go through to the final so that will be exciting.”
