Israel Olatunde excited for new chapter training with Olympic champion Noah Lyles
NEW CHAPTER: Israel Olatunde, will next month relocate to Clermont, Florida to train alongside world and Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles under the guidance of coach Lance Brauman. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Tom Maher
To run like the world’s best sprinters, it makes sense to go and train with them. That’s part of the reason the fastest Irishman in history, Israel Olatunde, will next month relocate to Clermont, Florida to train alongside world and Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles under the guidance of coach Lance Brauman.
This is a path Irish athletes have walked before, with Jason Smyth and David Gillick both training with Brauman’s PURE Athletics group in the past. For Olatunde, the move has been a possibility ever since he signed with adidas – the group sponsor – near the end of 2022.
It was last November when Olatunde reached out to Brauman to discuss the move and in April this year, he spent three weeks in Florida on a warm-weather training camp, during which time he met Brauman and the athletes in the group.
“From what I saw, what I experienced, it seems like exactly where I needed to be,” he says. “The athletes contribute to the training environment, they were all very friendly and welcoming to me but at the end of the day, they’re also there for one thing: to get better at their sport. It’s a very professional environment.”
Olatunde has already taken Irish men’s 100m sprinting to new heights under the guidance of coach Daniel Kilgallon at Tallaght AC but to go a step further, he felt this move was necessary.
“Me and Daniel have pushed every button we can here in Ireland, but some things you can’t replicate like the environment of high-performance sprinting that you have in the States,” he says. “It’s two different worlds and anyone who’s experienced both sides will know that. This is the change I need to help me get to the next level.”
Whatever happens, he’ll remain eternally grateful to the two Irish coaches who have led him to this point: Gerry McArdle, who nursed his talent during his mid-teens in Dundalk before handing him over to Kilgallon in 2019, who has coached him ever since. As it was with Rhasidat Adeleke in 2021, Kilgallon knows letting his protege go stateside is in the best interests.
“He wants (the move) almost as much as I do – he probably wants to get rid of me,” laughs Olatunde. “But not every coach would be so willing to have their athlete move on to a different environment. He’s been great.”
The last two years have often been difficult. In August 2022, Olatunde announced himself on the international stage by breaking Paul Hession’s Irish 100m record and clocking 10.17 to finish sixth in the European final in Munich. The one drawback to a performance that good? It set an awfully high bar at a stage of his career when progress is rarely linear.
Last year he had a 100m best of 10.32 and only in recent weeks did Olatunde surpass what he ran in Munich, clocking a superb 10.12 to close his season at the NEB Open in London. “It’s something I needed,” he says. “It was relief, but also an exciting moment to see what I’m working on in training is paying off.” He says the thing that held him back last year was “almost all mental”.
“Before I’d say I don’t let that external noise affect me but naturally, when you’re comparing different things, it does get to you. People have expectations of you and you have expectations for yourself and when things aren’t going right, it can be tough to get back on track.
“That’s something I’ve been working on: how I approach the sport from a mental aspect. Everyone is going to have their opinions and expectations on where you should be, but it’s just remembering why I started in this sport and enjoying each training session. My journey is unique to everyone else’s so it’s taking it one step at a time, enjoy the process and I’ll get where I need to get if I just work hard and focus on those things. It’s been a tough couple of years, but I’ve come out better.”
In workouts of late, he could see the progress, Olatunde able to implement the adjustments Kilgallon recommended in not rushing the phases of his start and using “long, powerful steps” to set up his race. “It allowed me to be stronger in the second half, that’s what made a difference in (London),” he says. “I knew a 10.1 was on the cards as I was executing the way I wanted in training. I just had to let it happen in the race.”
Having fallen short of Olympic qualification, it proved a great way to round off the season. Olatunde says it was difficult “having to swallow that pill” of missing Paris but he was still “glued” to the coverage. “At the end of the day, I’m a fan of the sport so it was great to watch my friends out there competing.”
He plans to be at the Games in four years’ time. Same goes for the World Championships in Tokyo next year. “I’ll sit down with coach Lance and see what we’re going to target but (the goal is to) push on from this year, take steps in the right direction and hit our targets at championships,” he says.
Having been based in Ireland his whole life, the move stateside will mark a big change but he’s ready for it. “It’s always been a dream of mine to experience a new culture for a period of my life and Clermont seems an ideal place for someone like me, it’s quieter than Orlando and that suits me. I think I’ll fit in pretty well. I’m ready to make the move.”
It’s a gamble, of course, but staying at home would also be just that. By setting off on this path, he believes he’s giving himself the very best chance to reach the top. “I’m sure Lance is going to take me to the next level,” he says. “He’s excited about having me, and seeing where we can take it.”
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