Derval O’Rourke is through to the 100m hurdle semi-final after finishing in second place in her heat at the World Track and Field Championships in Daegu, South Korea.
Championship favourite, Sally Pearson of Australia won the heat in 12.53, the fastest qualifying time overall. The semi-final takes place at 11.15am Irish time on Saturday.
O’Rourke’s ran 13.07, and knows that she will need to improve on this to make the final, as she did in Berlin in 2009.
Meanwhile Irish record holder Paul Hession did not progress to the 200m semi-final after finishing fourth in his heat in 21.02.
He required a time of 20.70 to gain a fastest loser spot into the next round.
The women’s 4x400m team of Marian Heffernan, Joanne Cuddihy, Claire Bergin and Michelle Carey produced a good performance to finish fourth in their heat in a new Irish Record of 3:27.48, improving on the 3.30.11 that they ran at the European Championships in Barcelona last year.
Whilst the time wasn’t fast enough to make the final, they did finish in 12th position overall which will greatly help them in achieving the Olympic qualification standard of a top 16 place world placing.
*Notes Olympic Relay Qualification
There will be a maximum of 16 qualified teams in each relay event, based on the aggregate of the two fastest times achieved by national teams in the qualification period of 1 January 2011 to 2 July 2012.
