Athletics:Derval O'Rourke has failed to make the finals of the women's 60 metres hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul this afternoon as she finished sixth in the first semi-final.
The Cork Athlete ran a season’s best of 8.13 in a race won by event favourite Australian Sally Pearson in a time of 7.93.
She was the only athlete to break the eight-second mark, with Belgium’s Eline Berings, Canada’s Nikkita Holder and Nigeria’s Seun Adigun the other athletes to make the final.
O’Rourke was pipped by Italy’s Marzia Caravelli for fifth place, with her time the 10th best of the semi-finals.
“I’m disappointed with it obviously,” admitted O’Rourke in the aftermath of the race. “I haven’t had an ideal indoor season but I still felt I could come here and run well. I’ll have to go away and have a big think about it and come back better for outdoors.
O’Rourke had been trying to iron out some problems with her approach to the first hurdle, but admitted it still wasn’t right in Istanbul.
“I was having some problems with the first hurdle in training but I thought I’d resolved that but obviously not,” she added.
Earlier in the day, Ben Reynolds qualified for the semi-finals of the men’s 60 metres hurdles, finishing fifth in the fourth heat in a time of 7.82 to take one of the four fastest qualifier places. The final takes place on Sunday afternoon.