Tired looking Derval fails to sparkle

Athletics News:  Derval O'Rourke has always emphasised the difference between championship running and Grand Prix circuit running, and that was proved last night when she faded to seventh over the 100-metre hurdles at the Weltklasse meeting in Zürich.

After her superb performance in the European championship final in Gothenburg a week earlier, O'Rourke looked a little tired and a lot less determined - and her time of 13.21 seconds also fell well short of the 12.72 she ran to win joint silver when mixing it with the best in Europe.

Last night she was mixing it with the best in the world - in fact the very best - with the reigning World, European, Commonwealth and Olympic champions among her opponents. After a hard-fought race, victory went to America's world champion Michelle Perry, who clocked 12.65 - also well short of her seasonal best of 12.43.

Like O'Rourke, the two other medallists from Gothenburg looked a little tired: Sweden's champion Susanna Kallur could manage only fifth in 12.86, and Germany's Kirsten Bolm - who shared the silver with O'Rourke - ran the best of that trio to take fourth in 12.85.

On the night, however, the race really belonged to the fresher athletes who were waiting for a big show in Zürich. Brigitte Foster, Jamaica's Commonwealth champion, took second to Perry in 12.80, with another American Damu Cherry third in 12.83.

America's Olympic champion Joanna Hayes fell heavily at the seventh hurdle.

O'Rourke did get a perfect start and was well in contention up until around halfway, although after that whatever tiredness was in her legs from Gothenburg began to show. Still she will have learnt from the experience of lining up against the very best sprint hurdlers in the world - and her intention now is to build on the experience and use it when it counts most, such as next year's world championships, and ultimately at the Olympics in Beijing in two years' time.

Zurich certainly lived up to its reputation as the "one-day Olympics" - with last night's meeting also being the fourth of six stops on the Golden League. Jamaica's Asafa Powell kept himself in contention for a share of the $1-million jackpot when comfortably winning the 100 metres - and in the process equalled the world record of 9.77 seconds for the third time in his short career.

Ethiopia's Tirunish Dibaba also kept herself in the running with another emphatic win over 5,000 metres. But America's 400-metre specialist Sanya Richards had to work a little harder to win her event in 50.20 seconds and stay in the hunt for the jackpot.