Sarah Lavin wins European semi-final to set up 100m hurdle medal bid

Saturday night in Rome and the latest Irish medal hopes inside the Stadio Olimpico turned to Sarah Lavin, and as if on cue the Limerick sprinter delivered on her form and own expectations by cruising through to the final of the 100 metres hurdles on the second day of the European Athletics Championships.

Running in the first of three semi-finals, with only the top two sure of progressing to the final later tonight, Lavin produced another calm and controlled race to take the win in 12.73 seconds, equalling her season best in the process.

That left her comfortably clear of Ditaji Kambundji from Switzerland, the bronze medal winner from the last championships in Munich two years ago, who nailed second in 12.79.

In the second semi-final, Cyréna Samba-Mayela from France took the win in a cool 12.43 seconds, equalling the fastest European time this year, ahead of Pia Skrzyszowska from Poland, who clocked 12.62, evidence of the quality of runners in the final to come.

The third and last semi-final was won by Britain’s Cindy Sember in 12.64, also faster than Lavin, with the Dutch woman Nadine Vasser second there in 12.81. The medal decider is then set for 9.08pm Irish time.

By her admission, Lavin will likely need to run in the 12.50s to make the podium, faster than she’s ever run before: “I reckon you’ll have to be in the 12.50′s,” Lavin said earlier. “Ultimately, that is what you want to do, but doing things is very, very different. You need those moments where absolutely everything goes right, and you have absolute precision.”

But she’s hopeful: it’s not yet a year since she took down Derval O’Rourke’s 13-year-old Irish record, at the World Championships in Budapest last August, when she clocked 12.62 seconds in her semi-final, improving the 12.65 O’Rourke set when winning the silver medal at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona; her second successive silver, remember.

For Lavin, who turned 30 last month and finished fifth in Munich two years ago, there is some added confidence of winning a bronze medal at the European Games in Poland last summer, even if that was a time trial of sorts.