IRELAND’S DERVAL O’ROURKE has won her opening round heat for the women’s 100 metre hurdles at the European Championships, and appeared to finish with ease. Her time of 12.88 seconds is an Irish season best.

O’Rourke will race in tomorrow’s semi-final at 7.05pm.

Paul Hession finished sixth in the men’s 200 metre final, with France’s Christophe Lemaitre taking the gold in a very close finish against Christian Malcolm of Britain.

Niamh Whelan qualified for this evening’s 200 metre semi-finals as a fastest loser, but didn’t manage a spot in the final.

Robert Heffernan finished fourth in the 50km walk, having finished in fourth in Tuesday’s 20km race, too. He set a new national record in the process, with his time of 3:45:30 for the 50km.

Deirdre Ryan recorded a personal best today, too, when she reached 1.87 metres in the high jump qualifier. She missed out on the final, though, as she didn’t meet the 1.92 metre target height.

Two more Irish athletes will be competing this evening in Barcelona. Fionnuala Britton races in the 3,000 metre Steeplechase and David Gillick will run the 400 metre final.