National Indoor Championships Day 2: Bori Akinola powers home to claim first national senior title
POWERFUL RUN: Bori Akinola of UCD AC, Dublin, with his gold medal and the Craig Lynch Memorial Cup after winning the men's 60m final. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.
The start wasn’t his fastest. But even in an event as short as the 60 metres, it didn’t need to be. Not when Bori Akinola could produce a pristine pick-up, then power down the track, away from his rivals, to claim his first national senior title.
The 23-year-old clocked 6.61 seconds to win the Irish indoor 60m title in Abbotstown on Sunday, breaking the stranglehold Israel Olatunde had on the short sprints at national championships.
The time put him joint-second on the Irish all-time list alongside Paul Hession, behind only the national record of 6.57 by Olatunde, who Akinola had never beaten – until Sunday.
Olatunde had won the last three indoor 60m titles and the last four outdoor 100m titles. But heavy is the head that wears the crown in an arena this competitive, and having changed coaches and moved to Florida last autumn, the Olatunde that showed up in Abbotstown was not his peak self.
Still, he wasn’t going to lie down without a fight. The 22-year-old produced a big season’s best of 6.72 in the final, a time that’d often be good enough for gold, but this year it was only rewarded with bronze – Max O’Reilly of Riverstick/Kinsale taking silver in 6.69.
Akinola didn’t get a flying start, Olatunde reacting quicker from the blocks, but his pick-up was exceptional and he erupted in delight after the finish, running to the stands and into the arms of his mother.
“My head was just, ‘Execute, don’t think about anyone else,’” said Akinola.
“I didn’t get out ahead of everyone but was patient, I didn’t panic, went through the phases and it was all good.”
Elsewhere, Sharlene Mawdsley was a dominant winner of the women’s 400m, the Newport sprinter clocking 51.91 to come home clear of Phil Healy (53.25) and Rachel McCann (53.37).
“I wanted to make sure I attacked that first 200 because I didn’t do that in the semi-final,” said Mawdsley.
“I put on a strong performance, I’m proud of that.”
The men’s 400m offered proof of why many are talking up Conor Kelly as a future star, the 17-year-old Derry Track Club athlete unleashing an Irish U-20 indoor record of 46.54 to take gold, coming home exactly one second ahead of David Bosch.
His time was just shy of Dara Kervick’s championship record of 46.53.
“That was the goal for this race, I really wanted it,” said Kelly.
“The lane draw helped me a lot. Being on the outside, I had to take that first 200 out hard.”
There was a thrilling finish in the men’s 3000m where Seán Tobin had to dig deep – very deep – to repel the late attack from James Gormley, Tobin putting injury struggles firmly behind him and winning by one hundredth of a second in 8:09.18. Róisín Flanagan coasted to the women’s title in 9:14.02.
“I knew he was going to be there, I just didn’t know how close he was,” said Tobin.
“I could feel the legs going but I’ve done a lot of (work) on the sprint stuff. I knew outrunning Gormley was going to be very hard and (coach) Feidhlim (Kelly) said, ‘Today, if you’re not going to outrun him, you’ll have to outkick him.’”
Cathal Doyle proved a class apart in the men’s 1500m, kicking clear on the penultimate lap and coming home a wide-margin winner in 3:58.10.
“I was winding it up every 100m, putting the foot down a bit more,” said Doyle.
“I’m getting the hang of indoors, I feel more comfortable now and I’m getting quicker every week – that’s a good sign.”
Sarah Healy was the most dominant champion of the weekend, the Dubliner soloing a championship record of 4:08.74 to win the women’s 1500m by a remarkable 14 seconds.
“I felt pretty good, pretty strong,” said Healy. “I had a pace in mind I was hoping to run for the first K and then I was going to try pick it up, but with adrenaline at the start I always get out a bit too hard.”
Louise Shanahan utilised familiar sit-and-kick tactics to take the women’s 800m title, the Leevale athlete shifting through the gears from the front on the final lap to clock 2:07.82.
Kevin McGrath of Bohermeen was another with too much speed for his rivals, winning the men’s 800m in 1:51.11.
Sarah Leahy produced a polished performance to reclaim the women’s 60m title, the Killarney Valley athlete clocking 7.39.
Ciara Neville of Emerald put years of injury struggles behind her with her quickest time in four years for silver, 7.41.
Kate Veale claimed another national title in the women’s 3000m race walk in 13:24.02, while David Kenny took the men’s 5000m race walk in 19:04.76.
In the field events, national record holder Eric Favors produced the standout performance, taking men’s shot put with 19.40m.
Michaela Walsh of Swinford continued her dominance with victory in the women’s shot with 14.48m, while there was an emotional victory in the men’s long jump for Colm Bourke who took his first national title with 7.15m.
“For 16 years I’ve been chasing this, it’s overwhelming, it’s hard to believe,” said Bourke.
“I stuck to my guns and it feels very gratifying.”
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