Derval plans to go flat out towards London 2012

EXPECT to see Derval O’Rourke running a lot more 100m races between now and London 2012 as her coach, Sean Cahill, attempts to improve her overall performance over the 100m hurdles.

“Derval’s technique is so good there is very little that can be done to improve it,” her coach insisted. “But we can definitely improve her flat speed, and that is what we will be looking at between now and London 2012.”

The Meath man said that her flat speed and her strength are the only areas of her performance open to improvement and himself and his wife, Terri, had been working on that earlier in the year until a slight niggle forced her to ease back.

She even had a rare outing over 200m in a bid to combine both strength and speed in advance of her seasonal debut over the hurdles.

“Her flat speed can be improved upon and even this year, despite that setback, we saw an improvement,” he said. “We knew it when we saw her running against A (Ailis McSweeney) in training. She needed some 100m races to bring out the best in her but unfortunately that did not happen this year.

“I didn’t think she got any bit of luck whatsoever this year. Even when we had her running quick on the flat she got a niggle and we could not let her race 100m. Okay, it was just a little hiccup when it happened, but it broke the momentum.

“The reason she fell (in Germany) was because she was running so quick on the flat. At the end of the race she is used to the hurdles coming up at a certain speed but they came up quicker than she used to expect.

“And then in the (European championships) final, even if (Nevin) Yanit had been in the lane beside her, it would have been very different. There were a few different things that could have happened that would have made a difference.”

Tomorrow night she returns to action at the Weltklasse Samsung Diamond League meeting in Zurich, but he is not expecting her to set the place alight. She took a well-earned break after Barcelona and had her first real training session over hurdles on Sunday.

“She needed the break,” Cahill said. “She would never say it but I always know when she is tired. This time, however, she admitted she was tired.”

The provisional line-up in Zurich includes all three medallists from the European Championships which means she will renew rivalry with Yanit (Turkey) and Carolin Nytra (Germany) as well as the world silver medallist, Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (Canada), who beat her at Cork City Sports and is the current world leader, as well as Lolo Jones, who is going through something of a bad run of form.

Meanwhile, David Gillick will find himself surrounded by some familiar faces when he lines up for the 400m in Zurich tomorrow night.

The Dubliner who finished fifth (45.79 secs) in Crystal Palace on Sunday renews rivalry with the former Olympic and world champion, Jeremy Wariner, who won in London.

European silver and bronze medallists, Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney, are also in the field, alongside Jonathan Borlee (Belgium), who makes his return to competitive running after his disappointment in Barcelona.