Ben Reynolds put in a great performance on his championship debut to make it through to the 60m Hurdles semi-final at the World Indoor Track and Field Championships in Istanbul. He finished seventh in that semi-final in 7.80 following on from his 7.82 in the heats.
He had a blistering start but hit the third hurdle badly which affected the second half of his race, speaking afterwards he said “I’d a good start but the rest was not up to scratch.” Looking to the future he said: “I can take a lot from these races and that alone is worth it” he added: “I already having the qualification for Helsinki (European Championships) and London is firmly in my sights”
Derval O’Rourke finished sixth in the semi-final of the 60m Hurdles yesterday in a season’s best of 8.13, with the top four qualifying into the final, the Cork woman did not progress to the final. O’Rourke had a sluggish start with one of the slowest reaction times and she was unable to get herself back into contention: “I was having some problems with the first hurdle in training but I thought I’d corrected that.” The Irish Record Holder will now turn her focus to the London Games: “I will go away and work harder and come back for the outdoors, it’s all about the Olympics”
Ciaran O’Lionaird bowed out of the 1500m after finishing in a disappointing 11th place in the heat running, 3:50.12. The race was won by Özbilen Ilham Tanui of Turkey in 3:41.93. O’Lionaird race plan was to be in contention at the 800m mark and to secure a place in the final, but he admitted that he didn’t have anything in his legs at that point. He will now take a break from training for the next couple of weeks before easing back into his training schedule designed to bring him to the London Olympics where he look to emulate his performance at the World Championships last year when he was a finalist in the 1500m.
Speaking of the Irish performance, High Performance Director, Kevin Ankrom said “ Ben produced two solid performances showing his championships credentials at his first majors. Derval and Ciaran would have liked to have performed better and given their talent they are understandably disappointed but this championships is just a stepping stone for both of these athletes towards their ultimate target, the London Olympics”
