Ó Lionaird: I’m not scared of anyone
Today Der O’Donovan, who coached Ó Lionaird from the time he joined Leevale as a schoolboy, will join supporters and friends at Pa Johnson’s Pub to cheer on their most recent middle distance star along with another club star, European silver medallist, Derval O’Rourke, who contests the 100m hurdles.
O’Donovan, who coached the club to a record nine consecutive national junior cross-country titles, shared in the disappointment that crept in during Ó Lionaird’s collegiate career.
However, he believes Ó Lionaird’s last serious injury was a career turning point.
O’Donovan recalled: “When he suffered a herniated disc in his back last year it appeared as if it was all over. Then he got on to me and said ‘ok, what I am to do.’ I told him to have a look at everything he was doing — his weight training, his core training and stretching — divide it by two and dump half of it. And that’s what he did.
“His spell at Michigan left him a bit disillusioned. He was left to train hard and he thought that by training even harder he would run faster but, in fact, he was doing himself more damage. I don’t think they realised what a gem they had at Michigan State. Then he went to Florida State University where the coach, Bob Braman, took a special interest in him. I always tell him to rest more, relax more and do less mileage and he began to do that. After finishing third in the Conference cross-country championships he was a surprise winner of the Regionals but I think he went back to his old training regime and when he came home for the European cross-country in Albuifera he had nothing left.”
Ó Lionaird will take his place among the best 1,500m runners in the world today (12.15pm Irish time) and is relishing the challenge. He said: “I don’t fear anyone, there are only a couple of tenths of a second between myself and the Olympic champion. I’m not scared of anything. I take it all in and I enjoy it. I’m not burned out because I have been out of it for four years.”
In Thursday’s semi-final he dipped under 3:40 for only the second time in his career when he qualified in 3:36.96.
If he can repeat that, he could go close to the medals with so many of the big guns having been eliminated.
Yesterday was another good day for the Irish competitors. The European silver medallist, Derval O’Rourke, finished second in her heat of the 100m hurdles to qualify for this morning’s semi-finals (11.15am Irish time; final at 1pm). The heat was won by Olympic silver medallist, Sally Pearson (Australia) in 12.53 with O’Rourke second in 13.07. “Sally Pearson ran really hard and I just relaxed and did my own thing,” she said. “It’s irrelevant what happens in the first round as long as you get through. I’m not good in the mornings.”
And there was more good news for Ireland when the women’s 4 x 400m relay team set a national record at 3:27.48 finishing third behind Jamaica (3:22.01) and Great Britain (3:23.05) despite a poor start.
“I didn’t hear the gun,” lead-off, Marian Heffernan, said. “I heard a twitch and looked up and I saw the girl in front of me going. It’s a pity we did not make the final because I think there is at least another half a second there.”
“It shows what this team can do,” Joanne Cuddihy said. “We knocked three seconds off the national record and we can do better. This team is going places.”
Placing 12th enhances their prospects of qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games when the top 16 teams in the world will be admitted. The final qualification will be decided on an average of the two best recorded times.
There was bitter disappointment for sprinter Paul Hession, who was eliminated in the first heat of the 200m after finishing fourth in 21.02 seconds.
Today high jumper, Deirdre Ryan, who set an Irish record at 1.95m in qualification, can expect cooler temperatures for the final but will have to contend with a difficult opening height of 1.89m.
Tomorrow sees Alistair Cragg line-up for his first world championship final when he goes in the 5,000m decider with Mo Farah still the favourite despite having to settle for the silver in the 10,000m final.
Midnight: Colin Griffin, Men’s 50k Walk; 11am: Deirdre Ryan, Women’s High Jump Final; 11.15am: Derval O’Rourke, Women’s 100m Hurdles Semi-Final; 12.15pm: Ciaran Ó Lionaird, Men’s 1,500m Final; 1pm: Derval O’Rourke, Women’s 100m Hurdles Final.
11.40am: Alistair Cragg, Men’s 5,000m Final.
