O'Rourke looks forward to change in tempo

Athletics/European Championship: Ernest Hemingway described the standard onset of bankruptcy as "gradually, then suddenly". Now that Derval O'Rourke has followed a similar road to success - World Indoor champion, European silver medallist, both within six months - the first question now is where does she go next.

Zurich, for a start. O'Rourke leaves Gothenburg this morning with the rest of the Irish team, but she isn't coming home to party. There was a bit of that on Saturday night when she got to fully celebrate Friday's brilliant silver medal in the 100-metre hurdles (first there was all that photo-finish carry-on, then relay duty the day after).

All further celebrations though are put on hold as O'Rourke still wants and needs more races - starting with Friday's Golden League meeting in Zurich, the most famous meeting on the circuit and aptly called the one-day Olympics.

"If this was any other year I'd do one or two more races and call it quits, just enjoy myself," she says. "But because of the injury I had at the start of summer, which meant I didn't start racing until the last few weeks, I want to run into September and maybe get six or seven more races.

"You still can't replicate racing in training, and I don't want to come off the summer with only six races. I think I can go quicker, get a bit more experience for next year as well.

"Of course it doesn't really matter what happens in those races. All I cared about was coming to Gothenburg, setting a personal best and getting a medal. But it would be nice to put some icing on the cake. I'd like to run a few solid 12.8s and maybe another 12.7. I honestly don't know if I can go much quicker than my 12.72 right now. Because I missed those six or seven weeks I think I would be asking too much of myself to run a 12.6. But of course you never know. I'll give it a go anyway."

Her agent, Andy Norman, will line up four or five races after Zurich - all with the promise of fast times and some pay cheques.

"If I didn't medal here Andy said the best he could probably do was some meeting in Tallin," she adds. "Win a medal and I was in Zurich. Otherwise it was Tallin. That's the choice you face in this sport."

The second question is where O'Rourke goes in the longer term. The main athletics event next year is the World Championships in Osaka, but the main event in her career - and the race for one medal she really cares about - will happen at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Getting there faster, stronger and more confident (if that's possible) will be her main focus between now and then.

"Looking ahead right now I'd like to win the European Indoors next March. That depends on how the winter goes, but I think a good indoor season is important in this event. Then I'll target a final at the World Championships.

"But I can't go around saying I'm going to medal in Osaka, because I know 12.4 is what that will take - not 12.6 and not 12.7," she says. "I'm going to have to run 12.7 to get into the final. But if I can't medal, if I'm just not there yet, I still have another year before Beijing. That's looking at things realistically."

Her only problem, of course, is that having made such sudden improvement this year, what happens next can only be more gradual. Typical of O'Rourke though, she's not setting any limits. At age 25 there's still no saying how fast she can run.

What is certain is that she won't be doing anything massively different with her training. She's built total trust in her coaches Jim Kilty and Seán Cahill, and the only thing she plans adding now are some plyometrics - better known as bounding exercises.

"I have changed something big every year. This year it was the technique that was the big thing. What I'd like to do next is bring in a plyometric programme, maybe get more functional strength, because I've lifted weights for four years now and I've got to the stage where I don't think I can get a whole lot stronger in the weight room.

"I think I have the speed, the technique is coming on every year, so I just need a bit more functional strength."

O'Rourke's greatest strengths have to be her ability to handle pressure and get the best out of herself when it matters most. She could have called on a bagful of excuses - the long indoor season, then the groin injury, the pressure of seeing herself in all those Spar ads - yet refused to bring any of them to Gothenburg.

"To be honest I really didn't feel any pressure out here. Part of me is thinking that if I hadn't been injured, and everything had been perfect, maybe I could have come here and run 12.5. But I have to ignore that. That's just the nature of the sport.

"I also know it's not the end of the world if you don't run fast. You walk off the track, get on with life like any normal person. But I know as well when you're out on the track you're on your own. If you're not tough enough to do it on your own then you're not going to make it. It is a hard sport if you really want to make it.

"At one point I was getting a little worried about doing the press stuff with Spar, that maybe I was throwing myself to the wolves a little bit. But of course it was my call in the end. And Spar have been so good to me. And look, I only saw the ad twice. I always flick around during the ads."