Gloomy Irish weather not enough to dampen sprinter Akinola's spirits

Luckily for Bori Akinola, his races at this time of year are all indoors. 

Bori Akinola of UCD AC at the National Indoor Arena at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Not many elite athletes enjoy the kind of weather we’ve been having, well, all year long. 

But sprinters tend to hate it more than most, the challenge of covering over 11 metres per second coming a whole lot easier in warm, dry conditions.

But for Bori Akinola, the reigning national 60m and 100m champion, the work still has to get done. 

“We’ll still be there, even with the pouring rain and cold,” he laughs. “Like January alone, no dry days – literally. Last Saturday I think was the first training session in UCD (this year) when it’s been dry. The track was still wet, it just wasn’t raining as bad.” 

But does that ever tempt Akinola to go abroad like his rival and fellow UCD graduate Israel Olatunde, who’s been based in Florida since 2024?

“I’m seeing improvements year on year so unless there’s a path where I don’t improve as much as I want to and whatever plan we set in place doesn’t really work out, then it could be in question,” he says. “For now, I’m happy where I am and I’d love to do something in Ireland. I really don’t like being away from home.” 

Luckily for Akinola, his races at this time of year are all indoors. 

He’s been in scorching form of late, smashing Olatunde’s Irish 60m record two weeks ago in Belgrade with 6.54. It carved 0.05 off his previous best and it puts the 24-year-old within 0.11 of the fastest men in the world this year.

Not many at that level have to squeeze athletics around full-time work but Akinola is one of them, doing his nine-to-five as an iOS engineer with Output Sports before heading to UCD or Abbotstown to put in the hard yards in the track or gym. 

He doesn’t have funding or a professional contract, and even in the sport’s glamour event there’s a precipitous drop-off in earning potential for those outside its ultra-elite bracket. 

He’s certainly made a good case for such support in recent weeks.

Virgin Media Presenter Will Dalton, centre, with athletes, from left, Bori Akinola of UCD AC, Emma Moore of Galway City Harriers, Darragh McElhinney of Bantry AC and Anna McCauley of City of Lisburn AC at the National Indoor Arena at the Sport Ireland Campus. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

“Hopefully there’s some sponsorship on the way where I don’t have to work as much or not work at all and I can give it my all until LA 2028,” he says.

In February last year, Akinola blazed to his first national senior title, clocking 6.61 for 60m. 

Outdoors, he was better again, lowering his 100m PB to 10.20 last summer to go third on the Irish all-time list behind Olatunde and Paul Hession. 

But he also clocked a blazing 10.10 in London, which wasn’t eligible for record purposes due to the wind speed (2.9m/s) being over the legal limit (2.0).

Akinola had a late start in the sport, only taking it up at the age of 17 after his PE teacher at Balbriggan Community College, Sarah Murray, encouraged him to train with Fingallians AC. 

Since 2023, he’s been training under coach Adam McMullen, a former elite long jumper, who has been “amazing” in progressing him through the ranks.

He’s missed a fair chunk of time with injuries over the years, which convinces Akinola he’s still nowhere near the ceiling. 

“I feel I’m still catching up and there’s still a lot more speed to develop. I still have to learn, just attacking races. Staying healthy, staying consistent, getting faster week in, week out. You always have to be a student of the sport. You just learn from previous races, previous years, building on what you know.” 

Olatunde will be absent from this weekend’s 123.ie National Indoor Championships, with Sunday’s sold-out session set to be shown live on Virgin Media 2, but Akinola will renew his rivalry with the Dundalk sprinter outdoors. 

“We’re both improving year on year and we’re only going to push each other along and, who knows, maybe run a crazy time,” he says.

Akinola has recently been getting assistance from a Slovakian manager, Alfonz Juck, who’s helped him secure lanes in major races, and next week he’ll line up at the prestigious ISTAF Indoor meeting in Berlin. 

After that, all roads lead to Poland for the World Indoors (March 20-22), but for now he has a more immediate goal for nationals. “Retain my title, and whatever time shows up on the clock shows up. I’m taking the win.”