Derval ready to face stiffest hurdle

Derval O’Rourke begins her London 2012 campaign at the Olympic Stadium this morning when she competes in the first round of the 100m hurdles.

Drawn in the fourth heat at 10.26am, the two-time European silver medallist goes in lane six. The line-up includes Nevin Yanit (Turkey) who pipped the Leevale athlete for the gold medal at the European championships in Barcelona two years ago. Yanit has a best of 12.61 seconds this season while Dawn Harpour (USA) will line up with a seasonal best of 12.65 seconds. Ekaterina Galitskaya (Russia) has 12.78 and Nikkita Holder (Canada) has 12.80. Derval O’Rourke posted her seasonal best at 13.03 in Italy last month.

To get through to tomorrow evening’s semi-finals among the automatic top three the former world indoor champion will probably have to break 13 seconds. Her coach, Sean Cahill, pointed out that, in her mind, there was little difference between 13.03 and 12.97.