O'Rourke taking her time to get things just right

ATHLETICS: We probably won't see her in a proper race until the European Championships in two months' time, and she's still training at only 80 per cent because of a niggling injury, but that hasn't done Derval O'Rourke's summer ambitions any harm. When you're the world indoor champion, you can afford to be a little self-confident.

O'Rourke is in no way concerned about her delayed start to the outdoor season. She was originally down to run two grand prix races last week, but she by-passed them, and even the European Cup in Prague on June 17th - her latest start-up date - is not certain.

All the Cork athlete is really concerned about is converting her indoor form over the 60-metre hurdles to the 100-metre hurdles when it matters most, and that's in Gothenburg in August.

"I'm just still not ready to race," she admitted, speaking at the announcement of a new endorsement deal with Spar. "I just haven't got all the hurdles work done. But I've done everything else.

"There's still the slight injury problem as well, but I'm seeing the best people in the world on that to make sure I'm in my best form for Gothenburg. But the bottom line is I'm not going to race until I'm ready."

Despite the injury (a slight muscle tear in the groin), O'Rourke has been getting in 12 training sessions a week between the gym and track.

She lowered her indoor best to 7.84 seconds in Moscow, and the main question about her outdoor season is how much she'll improve over the 100-metre hurdles.

"My best right now is 12.96, and I believe I can smash that. I think I can run 12.70, and if I needed to run a 12.6 I think I could pull that out as well.

"I always felt that my first five hurdles are good, but not as good as my second five. So, moving outdoors, hopefully those extra five hurdles will make even more of a difference. And if I can run 12.6 or even 12.7 I think I'll win it (European gold).

"If someone comes out and runs 12.30, then it's game over, but I don't think anyone in Europe is capable of that."

Yet she's not getting overconfident either. Four of her fellow finalists in Moscow in March were European, including the Kallur twins, Susanna and Jenny, of Sweden, and Spain's Glory Alozie.

She's been careful, too, not to overcommit herself after Moscow. The Spar deal is her only major endorsement and she's made sure the success of March didn't become a burden.

"Really, after Moscow, things just changed for about three weeks. I was so busy during that time, literally running into my apartment and then legging it out somewhere else.

"But after that it was right back to normal. I got back into the hard training, and when you're on the track doing a session you don't think too much about being world indoor champion."