Adeleke shakes off Scott and jetlag to claim 100m crown

Rhasidat Adeleke of Tallaght AC winning the women's 100m final at the Irish Life Health National Senior Track and Field Championships  at Morton Stadium

Teenage sprint star Rhasidat Adeleke shook off the effects of jetlag to edge to victory in a thrilling 100m showdown with Molly Scott in yesterday’s national championships, the 19-year-old Tallaght athlete clocking 11.68 to Scott’s 11.69 into a stiff 2.6m/s headwind.

“Midway through the race I was like, ‘oh my God, I’m out of this,’” said Adeleke, who had flown in from her base at the University of Texas on Wednesday night. “If I didn’t win it, I wouldn’t have minded too much as I haven’t really been working on the 100, but I have been working on my start.” 

It’s been an astonishing year to date for Adeleke, who set Irish records at 60m, 200m, 300m and 400m, and while she remains undecided on competing at the Europeans in Munich in August she will target next month’s World Championships in either the 200m or 400m.

“I’ve been doing a lot of endurance, strength work and I’ll have to see how my body feels after Worlds,” she said of the Europeans. “I’ve had a long season and I wouldn’t be too disappointed not to go, but it would be a great opportunity.” 

Asked what difference it has made since she relocated to the US, where she is trained by the world-renowned coach Edrick Floreal, she said: “Competing at Texas has built my mental game. I came from Ireland and got so used to winning here, so it (losing( was a shock to the system, but I’m making my way up and hopefully I can continue to make progress.” Israel Olatunde of UCD clocked an impressive 10.51 to retain his men’s 100m title into a 1.7m/s headwind, with Joseph Ojewumi second in 10.72. “It felt good, I’m really happy with that,” said Olatunde, who currently has the B standard for the Europeans in Munich. “I’ve been really patient this year, with training and races, not forcing things, and that’s something I’m learning: to put in the work and let things happen.” 

The women’s 400m produced a superb clash between Sophie Becker and Phil Healy, with Becker coming from behind to edge victory in 52.34 to Healy’s to 52.48. “I thought I was going to fall in the last 50, I had nothing left,” said Becker. “I had to put up a serious fight, Phil was not letting that go. All that was going through my head was, ‘hold on.’” 

Chris O’Donnell turned in another classy display to win his fourth national title in the past five years in the men’s 400m, the North Sligo athlete clocking 46.82 to come home well clear of Marcus Lawler (47.94). “I really wanted to win after the disappointment last year,” he said. “I’m going to just do some training now before World Championships and Europeans and it’s all guns blazing now for that.” 

In the women’s 400m hurdles Kelly McGrory sprinted to her third national title, clocking 57.22. In the field events, the highlight was a 6.58m long jump by Ruby Millet of St Abban’s. David Cussen took high jump gold with a best of 2.10m, while Matthew Callinan Keenan edged pole vault gold with a best of 4.50m. Multi-event star Kate O’Connor took javelin gold with a 50.93m throw, with Conor Cusack taking the men’s title with 64.55m.