ATHLETICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS:HOW DO you begin to describe the feeling of finishing fourth in a World Championship final and still come away knowing you've done something just as precious as winning a medal?

Truth is it’s hard to put into words what Derval O’Rourke achieved in the old Olympic Stadium here last night because no one expected it, nor could ever have predicted it.

Running 100 metres of hurdles in 12.67 seconds? Few athletes in the world could describe that. We just knew the Cork star was always going to need to run the race of her life if she was to get into the hunt for the medals, and she did exactly that – lowering her Irish record from 12.72 to an astonishing 12.67 seconds, which may well have won her a medal at any other major championship.

She beat some serious opposition in doing so, including the Olympic gold and silver medallists, but it just wasn’t good enough on the night to beat Jamaica’s Brigitte Foster-Hylton, who won gold in 12.51, with her team-mate Delloreen Ennis-London third in 12.55. That was the difference; .12 of a second. Talk about so near and yet so far.

There usually isn’t much of a bonus prize for finishing fourth, although O’Rourke does still get €15,000, and deep down she knew it was one of the great performances not just of her career but in the long history of Irish athletics.

“Honestly, I was just gutted out there, looking up at the clock and seeing I got fourth,” she said. “I was trying not to have a little cry, because I say it all the time, I just love winning bloody medals. I love standing on podiums. And fourth is always a hard place to be.”

Now here’s the but: “I have to be happy. Incredibly happy. It’s a national record, and it took me three years to get back to this territory. I’ll have a tiny pity party, but after that I’ll be very happy.

“Fourth in the world? Imagine if you’d told me that last year at the Olympics, after going out in the first round? I would have killed you for it. I knew I had to run my socks off to make the final, but after that I didn’t want to be the person with the token lane. I wanted to be there, and represent myself really well.”

Truth is O’Rourke ran like the class act she became three years ago when winning the World Indoor title, and backing that up with European silver. Like that run in Gothenburg three years ago, she was again drawn in lane one, and again her start was phenomenal, and she was actually leading over the first four hurdles.

Critically, she maintained that right through to the finish, beautifully revealing the old competitive spirit that made her great to begin with.

“I’ve really worked on my start this summer. I guess I got it right here. I always say I think I’m as good as anyone in the world on my day. Many people were saying I wouldn’t even make it out of the heat here. My skin has got a bit thicker, and I laugh at that now.

“But of course even I had doubts. I know now if I can put my whole race together I can some day win the damn thing.”

The 12.73 she ran to qualify for the final earlier yesterday was then her second fastest ever, just off her 12.72 Irish record, but little did any of us realise the best was to come just two hours later.

It was something of a surprise to see the strongly-built Canadian take the silver medal in 12.54, though not as much of a surprise to see the Olympic champion Dawn Harper of the US only take seventh in 12.81, and Olympic silver medallist Sally McLellan take fifth in 12.70.

At 28, and following her bronze medal at the European Indoors, this has fast become O’Rourke’s comeback season, after the deep lows of the last two years. She didn’t leave the old stadium without paying tribute to her husband and wife coaching team of Seán and Terri Cahill: “I’m so lucky to have them. They are absolutely amazing. Seán paid his own way out here, and paid his own accommodation. He’s a superstar to me. And Terri is at home with the kids, watching on TV, and analysing. They’re an amazing team.”

No question, though, who is the real star of that team. You don’t become a bad hurdler overnight, as they said in some other worlds.