O'Rourke fails to reach final in Istanbul

Derval O'Rourke has finished sixth in her semi-final of the women's 60 metres hurdles at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Istanbul, therefore failing to reach the final.

O'Rourke, who was drawn in lane two, clocked a season's best time of 8.13 seconds, but never looked like claiming one of the top-four qualifying places after getting off to a relatively slow start out of the blocks.

The semi-final was won by the world champion Sally Pearson of Australia in 7.92 seconds.

The second semi-final was slower and Bayta Shrott of Austria claimed the last qualifying spot for the final in 8.11 seconds, a time just two-one-hundredths of a second quicker than O'Rourke clocked in the first semi.

Earlier on Saturday, Ben Reynolds put in a great performance on his championship debut to make it through to the men's 60m hurdles semi-final.

Reynolds ran 7.82 to finish fifth, taking a fastest qualifier spot. His semi-final takes place at 12:45pm tomorrow Irish time.