Derval O'Rourke won the World Indoor title in 2006

The Cork athlete created a major upset in 2006 when she took the world title in Moscow in a time of 7.84 seconds.

Following a season affected by injury, O'Rourke will use the Belfast event as a launching pad for a busy 2008.

She will defend her World Indoor title in Valencia in March ahead of the Beijing Olympics in September.

O'Rourke last ran at the Odyssey back in 2006 when she defeated the current World Outdoor bronze medallist Delloreen Ennis London of Jamaica in a new Irish record time of 7.90 secs.

She had to pull out of last year's event because of injury.

Other likely starters at the Odyssey are Irish internationals Dave Campbell and Liam Reale.

Campbell, who competed at the World Championship in Osaka over 800m, recorded an impressive double victory at 800m (1:46) and 1500m (3:42) in the Irish Championships last July.

This will be the fifth time that the Irish Indoors meeting will be held in Belfast and is hosted by Athletics Northern Ireland and the Athletic Association of Ireland.

The event is sponsored Woodie's DIY along with generous funding by Belfast City Council and Sport Northern Ireland while Phoenix Gas will sponsor the underage events.

The Championships has grown in stature each year with upwards of 1000 athletes expected to participate, representing a mixture of local and international level competitors from Ireland, England, Kenya, Slovakia and Norway.