Ademola focused on taking next step after making his big leap onto the world stage

The towering 6'9" 19-year-old has only floated under the radar because so many injuries dogged his frame through his rapid teenage growth spurt.

Thu, 10 Nov, 2022 - 00:00

Cliona Foley

YOUNG Cork long jumper Reece Ademola grinned widely when someone described him yesterday as the ‘best kept secret’ in Irish athletics.

The towering 6'9" 19-year-old has only floated under the radar because so many injuries dogged his frame through his rapid teenage growth spurt.

A lateral meniscus tear on his knee eventually forced him to take two seasons out and he only returned a year ago thanks to some persuasion from Leevale AC's league co-ordinator Derrick Neff.

That helps explains the excitement when Ademola finished fifth in the World Junior (U20) Championships in Colombia in August where he was in bronze medal position until the last round.

He broke the Irish U20 record twice in Cali, jumping 7:76 in qualifying and then 7:83m in his opening jump of the final.

That’s already put him third on the Irish all time list and he achieved it despite “being a bit lazy last year,” when he says he was “getting my bearings on life.

“Now I’ve seen my potential and where I can go from here if I just stick at it. Now that I’m back I definitely think I was born for the long jump,” he enthused.

Ademola played lots of sport in his youth and dominated some boards for Blue Demons and Neptune but admits he got bored in team sports and veered towards athletics when training clashed with basketball.

FLAT OUT: Reece Ademola. Pic: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

“I was always the tallest in my class but suffered a lot of injuries because of my height and how quickly I was growing,” he explained of being six foot tall by his 12th birthday.

“The bone wouldn’t catch up to the muscle so I had a lot of back and knee problems and then a bad knee injury which meant taking a few years off. There was a point where I wondered if I’d ever get back.” Now he’s started college (culinary studies at Munster Technological University) and, with a new focus, working with coach Liz Coomey on becoming only the second Irish man to break eight metres, with Ciaran McDonagh’s 15-year-old Irish record of 8:07m already in his sights.

“I don’t see why not if I put the time and the effort into it,” he said at the announcement of Athletic Ireland’s new title sponsorship with insurance company 123.ie for the next three years.

“I’m in college Monday to Thursday and training five days a-week as well so it’s tough but I’m going to stick at it and see where it takes me,” he added.

He admitted that the performances of Ireland’s rich vein of young track talent, particularly sprinters Israel Olatunde and Rhasidat Adeleke (both finalists at the 2022 European senior championships) has spurred him on.

“They’re like idols to me and to Ireland, I really look up to both of them, not just on the track but from the black culture side of things where they’re really doing us justice too.”

Athletics Ireland’s partnership with 123.ie is described as a “six-figure deal plus further marketing and promotional spend’ and the first events it will cover are the National Cross-Countries on November 20 and the annual award show three days later.