Athletics:Deirdre Ryan finished in a very creditable tie for sixth position in the final of the high jump at the World Championship in Daegu on a day when Ciaran O'Lionaird took another giant stride in his development as a top-class 1,500 metres runner.
By simply making the finals of their respective events, both Irish athletes have made huge strides in their careers in South Korea, with O’Lionaird coming home in 10th position in a star-studded final that will provide priceless experience for the Florida-based runner.
Dubliner Ryan had set a personal and Irish best of 1.95 metres to make it through to the final and the 29-year-old cleared 1.89m at the second attempt before just taking one jump to make 1.93m this morning.
Ryan would set a new record if she could clear 1.97m in the third round, but failed in her three attempts to tie for sixth spot with China’s Xingjuan Zheng.
Russian Anna Chicherova clinched the gold medal on a countback from Blanka Vlasic to end the Croatian’s four-year reign as world champion.
Both Chicherova, who won silver behind her rival at the last two world championships, and Vlasic jumped 2.03m to move clear of the rest of the field but neither could clear 2.05m.
Vlasic’s failed attempts at 2.00m and 2.03m then proved decisive and the 27-year-old, who has been struggling with injury and poor form this year, took silver. Italian Antonietta Di Martino won the bronze after clearing 2.00 at her third attempt.
In his final, O’Lionaird had kept pace with the favourites, Kenya’s Silas Kiplagat and Asbel Kiprop, but was dropped as the tempo increased at the bell. Kiprop ended the Kenyan jinx in the event, beating team-mate Kiplagat in a time of 3 minutes, 35.69 seconds. Matthew Centrowitz of the United States took the bronze medal while O’Lionaird came home in 3:37.81.
Derval O’Rourke was forced out of the 100 metres hurdles semi-finals after being ruled out with a calf injury. Drawn in lane five, the Cork hurdler was unfortunately unable to take her place on the start line bringing her championships to a premature conclusion.
O’Rourke picked up the injury during yesterday’s heats and, having received treatment overnight, took a final decision to withdraw following today’s warm-up.
Sally Pearson ran the fastest time of the year for the third race in a row to win a first Daegu gold for Australia in the final.
The 25-year-old, who ran world leading times in the heats and semi-finals, flew out of the blocks in lane three and confirmed her pre-eminence in the event this year in a world championship record of 12.28 seconds. She is now the fourth fastest woman ever.
Americans Danielle Carruthers and Dawn Harper, the Olympic champion, won silver and bronze respectively sharing the same time of 12.47 seconds.
Earlier this morning, Colin Griffin fell foul of the judges in the 50km walk and was disqualified from the race. The Ballinamore athlete was back in the pack in 31st place when he was shown a third and final red card.
Russian Sergey Bakulin took gold, covering the distance in a time of three hours 41:24. Denis Nizhegorodov, also of Russia, caught Jared Tallent in the closing stages to claim the silver while the Australian had to settle for the bronze.
South Korea's Park Chil-sung gave the home crowd some cheer by finishing seventh in a new national record of 3:47:13.