Athletics Ireland has announced their initial team selection for the IAAF World Indoor Championships which will take place in Doha, Qatar from the 12-14th of March. The team will include Derval O’Rourke (Leevale AC) who set an Irish Record of 7.84 seconds to take the World Indoor title in 2006. Derval opened up her indoor season at the Woodie’s DIY Senior Indoor Championships this weekend. She produced a solid performance, following a return from injury to win the Women’s 60m hurdles in 8.18 seconds. After placing fourth at the World Track and Field Championships in Berlin last year, the Leevale woman is focused firmly on making the podium in Doha.
Doha-bound Derval O’Rourke blew off the winter cobwebs by winning the 60m Hurdle title at the Irish Senior Indoor Championships in Belfast over the weekend. Derval, the 2006 World indoor champion, recently returned to the track after a calf niggle – her first hurdles session was just last Tuesday. But she showed her quality with two clean runs in the semi-final and final at the Odyssey Arena, clocking 8.29 and 8.18 seconds respectively.
Speaking afterwards, they were clearly confidence-boosting runs for the Leevale woman. “I’m so relieved to have that out of the way. It felt good to get out there and win my tenth national title. Hopefully I can go faster in the coming weeks and get everything right for the Worlds,” she said.
