DERVAL O’ROURKE is the toast of Ireland today after winning her second European silver medal at the 100m hurdles in Barcelona last night.
Cork native O’Rourke came second to Turkey’s Nevin Yanıt by just 0.02 seconds – a significant reduction on the 0.13 seconds she lost out by in Gothenburg four years ago in the same event.
But what comes next for O’Rourke? Well, there’s a few options.
The UCD graduate’s obvious next focus will be on the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, in August and September 2011.
The biennial tournament is usually a good indicator of form going into the Olympic games, and those earning gold medals in such tournaments are generally considered the favourites for Olympic success.
What might be a more useful concern, however, are the 2012 World Indoor Championships, a setting in which Derval – like other Irish athletes, such as David Gillick and Alistair Cragg – has flourished in recent years.
O’Rourke’s only major gold medal so far was won at the 60m hurdles indoors in Moscow in 2006, though she missed the equivalent events in 2008 and 2010 with persistent injuries, and coming just four months before the London games begin, the indoors could be a great chance to build momentum.
Also on the radar will be a hopeful invitation to the IAAF’s Diamond League, the premier worldwide grand prix circuit where O’Rourke would rub shoulder’s with the sport’s finest on a regular basis over the course of 2011.
Of course, the obvious long-term target is the London Olympics in 2012. With O’Rourke being 31 when the London games roll around, 2012 represents her best – and probably last – chance to perform on the biggest stage of all.
The games are just 726 days away.
