Injury ruins O’Rourke’s final hopes

DERVAL O’ROURKE set a new Irish record at 8.02 seconds for second place and an automatic place in the semi-finals of the women’s 60m hurdles on Saturday, but it all ended in disappointment yesterday when she went over on an ankle after clearing the third hurdle.

She finished the race in sixth position in 8.09 secs.

It was the same ankle that gave her trouble in the lead up to the world championships in Paris two years ago.

“Happily, there is no serious damage done but it was quite painful,” Ireland team manager Paddy Marley said last night. “She has received treatment from Dr O’Brien and has it strapped at the moment.”

The Kallur twins from Sweden dominated the final, Susanna winning in 7.80 secs from her sister, Jenny.

Paul Hession set a new personal best of 20.80 secs in his first round heat of the men’s 200m but lost out by three hundredths of a second to Chris Lambert of Great Britain, and that cost him a prime lane draw.

He just failed to get to the Ukranian, Dmytro Gluschenko, in the semi-final.

Tolbias Unger (Germany) won the gold medal with Lambert second.

Paul Brizzell finished third in his first round heat in 21.27 secs, while Peter Coghlan finished fifth in his heat of the 60m hurdles in a seasonal best 7.82 secs.