News

Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC) produced yet another world class performance to retain her 100m hurdles title on a wet and windy opening day of the 123.ie National Senior Track and Field Championships at Morton Stadium today.

Lavin, who is looking to defend her remarkable 100m hurdle and 100m sprint titles from 2023, clocked a superb championship record time of 12.79 to finish ahead of Molly Scott in second in 13.64, with Kate Doherty third in 13.67.

Lavin will return for the heats of the 100m tomorrow morning as she looks to defend her 100m sprint title against a stacked field which looks set to include European 400m silver medallist Rhasidat Adeleke.

The hurdles produced more excitement in the men’s race with Gerard O’Donnell (Carrick-on-Shannon AC) winning a dramatic men’s 110m hurdles title in 14.20 ahead of Adam Nolan (St. L. O’Toole AC) who stumbled over the final hurdle to slide his way to silver in 14.37.

The penultimate track final of the day produced one of the races of the day with a titanic tussle developing between the top three medallists from last year’s 5000m going toe-to-toe once more. Brian Fay (Raheny Shamrock AC), Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers), and Cormac Dalton (Mullingar Harriers) broke away from the field with 1000m to go before Gidey and Fay went for home over the final 400m. Ultimately it was that trademark kick from Fay which saw him retain his title and the Tom O’Riordan Memorial Cup in 3:43.61, with Gidey following him across the finish in 13:52.30.

Phil Healy (Bandon AC) looked hugely impressive in taking the women’s 200m title, with the European silver medallist posting a 23.42 to finish ahead of Alana Ryan (Sli Cualann AC) 24.25 and Aoife Lynch (Donore Harriers) 24.40. Newport’s Sharlene Mawdsley was forced to pull out of the heats as a precautionary measure earlier in the day.

Mark Smyth landed the men’s 200m title, breaking the 21-second mark on two occasions across the day with his best of 20.70 in the final seeing him streak clear over the final 50 meters. Robert McDonnell (Galway City Harriers) was second in 21.17and Darragh Murphy (U.C.D. AC) third 21.29.

Oisin Lane (Mullingar Harriers) picked up his first senior track title with a huge PB of 40:25.99 to move to 6th on the Irish all time list in the men’s 10,000m walk which was the first track final of the day. Kate Veale (West Waterford AC) broke the 22-minute mark in the women’s 5,000m (21:57.42), following hot on the heels of her performance at the stadium last weekend.

Oisin Joyce (Lake District Athletics) picked up the senior men’s javelin title with a best throw of 55.83m into a stiff Morton headwind, while Dundalk St. Gerards AC athlete Kate O’Connor claimed the women’s title with a best throw of 48.73m.

Eric Favors (Raheny Shamrock AC) retained his shot put title with a best throw of 18.85m, while performance of the day in the vertical jumps went to Sommer Lecky who came out on top in a quality women’s high jump with a best clearance of 1.76m.

Saragh Buggy secured national title number 21 with a best jump of 12:72m in the women’s triple, while David Cussen Old Abbey AC (2.10m) and Conor Penney Craughwell AC (2.05m) put on a show in the men’s high jump to both go over the two-meter mark in the tough conditions.

Away from the finals, Sarah Healy (UCD AC) safely secured her place in tomorrow’s 800m final with the fastest time in the heats (2:04.28). Healy will be joined in the final by Leevale’s Louise Shanahan who won the second heat in 2:09.65.

Sophie Becker looked comfortable in clocking 53.56 to top the qualifiers for tomorrow’s 400m final, while fellow Rome medallist Chris O’Donnell also looked to have several more gears as he cruised through to tomorrow’s 400m final with 47.97.

Mark English progressed to the men’s 800m final, posting the fastest time in qualifying with 1:51.90, while Thomas Barr received one of the cheers of the day on his way to a 49.60 which will see him return for tomorrow’s hurdle final at 1.05pm.

Sophie O’Sullivan (4:26.21) safely progressed to tomorrow’s 1500m final, while in the men’s 1500m heats saw the likely contenders all progress including Luke McCann (3:56.03), Cathal Doyle 4:00.34, and Darragh McElhinney (3:53.45).

• Full Results are availabe HERE
• The weekend timetable can be found HERE
• All the action can be found on the Athletics Ireland YouTube channel HERE
• The Paris 2024 Selection Policy is available HERE
• Spectator Tickets can be purchased HERE (U16s are FREE and do not require a ticket)