Sarah Lavin claims 13th national title as Rhasidat Adeleke allays injury fears

Lavin blasted to victory with another crisp, commanding display of sprint hurdling, winning her 13th national title – five indoors, eight outdoors

Sat, 29 Jul, 2023 - 18:23

Cathal Dennehy

Sarah Lavin has long been the superstitious type, and the Limerick hurdler said in the build-up to Saturday’s National Championships in Santry that there was just something about that number 13. Not just because she was going for her 13th Irish senior title, but given Derval O’Rourke’s national record of 12.65 has now been sitting out there, untouched, for 13 years.

Lavin was born on the same day as O’Rourke, 13 years later, and this summer she’s been getting closer than ever to the Corkwoman’s illustrious mark, lowering her PB to 12.73 in dire conditions in Stockholm recently. In Santry on Saturday she hoped to take another crack, but a howling, surging 5.1m/s headwind meant that was always going to be impossible. She blasted to victory with another crisp, commanding display of sprint hurdling, winning her 13th national title – five indoors, eight outdoors.

Her time? 13.13 seconds.

“I have to be happy, 13.1 into a -5.1 (headwind) just wouldn’t have been on the cards a year ago,” she said. “That (Irish record) is still hanging over me but we’ll keep doing everything we can, every day. If it’s to come, it’ll come. We’re definitely getting closer.”

Lavin will have one more chance to get it before next month’s World Championships in Budapest, racing in Bern, Switzerland next Friday. From there all roads lead to Hungary, where Lavin will go with the aim of making the world final. “I’m a world semi-finalist already so that would be a great outcome,” she said.

The hardest work Lavin had to do all day was obliging the droves of kids at the finish waiting for an autograph or selfie, Lavin taking the best part of an hour to fulfil every request. “It’s really important for those kids because it’s rare they get to come and see top-class athletics and it’s lovely to see how much it means.” She will be back on track in the 100m on Sunday.

Mark Smyth was another who defied the elements to clock a swift time, the Raheny sprinter clocking 20.87 into a 2.2m/s headwind to take the men’s 200m ahead of Colin Doyle (21.17). Katie Bergin of Moyne AC claimed gold in the women’s 200m in 24.60 (-2.0m/s). Leevale’s James Ezeonu edged Gerard O’Donnell to victory in the 110m hurdles, 14.28 to 14.29.

Saragh Buggy of St Abban’s claimed her 15th national triple jump title (counting indoors), her 19th in all, with a leap of 13.03m. Eric Favors claimed another national title in the men’s shot put, throwing 19.91m, while Bandon’s Nicola Tuthill was highly impressive in winning the women’s hammer with 67.67m.

Rhasidat Adeleke was a late withdrawal on Friday night on medical advice, though the Dubliner turned out to lend her support and greet her growing fanbase, also allaying any concerns over her health ahead of next month's World Championships.

“I feel like the travel and the races took a lot out of my body,” she explained. “I was mentally and physically fatigued and I developed a lot of tightness and spasms. I needed a break and this week I took a break.” Her next race will be at the World Championships, which begin on 19 August.

Ciara Mageean also withdrew from the event, stating: “I’ve made the decision to stay up in St Moritz and prioritise recovering from a little niggle after Monaco.” Four-time European medallist Mark English also opted out.

Andrew Coscoran was one of the stars of Irish athletics who did make the start line, the Irish 1500m record holder breezing through his 800m heat and into Sunday’s final, where he will square off with two-lap specialist John Fitzsimons and reigning European U20 1500m champion Cian McPhillips in what should be an intriguing clash.

Leevale's Michelle Finn made a bold bid to secure World Championships qualification in the 3000m steeplechase, needing to run a time in the low 9:40s to get within the world rankings quota, but in the high winds she was forced to settle for another national title in 10:00.14.

There will be a riveting rematch in the women’s 1500m final between Sophie O’Sullivan and Sarah Healy, who went 1-2 at the recent European U23 Championships. Healy made the mistake there of letting the pace dawdle through the opening half, losing out to O’Sullivan in the burn-up that ensued, but the Dubliner is unlikely to make the same mistake again.

Elsewhere, Edenderry’s Cian Crampton threw a personal best of 59.32m to win a bronze medal in the boys’ discus on the final day of the European Youth Olympic Festival in Maribor, Slovenia. “I’m ecstatic, to say the least,” he said. “I knew I could do it but going out and doing it is the hardest thing. I have seen in training that I can do those numbers and being able to do it in a competition is something else.”