Ryan on a high after impressive finish

Deirdre Ryan hailed a “dream” World Championships after finishing an impressive sixth in the high jump final in Daegu today.

The 29-year-old cleared 1.93 metres, but failed her three attempts at 1.97m, although the last was agonisingly close.

Ryan set a new Irish record of 1.95 metres in qualifying, the ’A’ standard for the London 2012 Olympics.

“I am really happy,” she said. “It has been a dream, a really good championships for me. It’s still a bit surreal.”

Russian Anna Chicherova took the gold on count back from defending champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia after both cleared 2.03m.

Ciaran O’Lionaird also showed plenty of promise for next year as he came 10th in the 1500m final in three minutes 37.81 seconds.

The 23-year-old said: “In the heat of the moment it’s disappointing, but I’d be very greedy if I said I wasn’t happy with the season overall.

“The negatives I can take from today is I didn’t get a medal which was in my mind, it has to be when you go into a final. The positives, I’ve made a massive step forward and I’ve got a ton of experience for London next year.”

Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop won gold.

But there was disappointment for European 100m hurdles silver medallist Derval O’Rourke, who was ruled out of the semi-finals with a calf injury.

Earlier this morning, Colin Griffin was disqualified from the 50km walk.