O'Sullivan shakes off early season form to storm to 1500m victory at Morton Games

Ireland’s Sophie O’Sullivan celebrates winning her heat of the Women's 1500m race. Pic: Nick Elliott/Inpho

The kick was a familiar one, Sophie O’Sullivan unleashing it in explosive fashion on the final turn of the women’s 1500m in Santry – her victory at the Morton Games proving she is very much back, and possibly better than ever.

The 24-year-old might have had a shaky start to the season, but after a training block in the French Pyrenees last month, she’s hitting form at the perfect time ahead of next month’s European Championships in Birmingham.

“The most important thing was to try and get a win,” said O’Sullivan, who was watched on by her mother Sonia as she clocked 4:08.26 to edge USA’s Chloe Foerster to victory. “I had a slow start to the season but I’m getting a bit of turnaround now. A good few weeks at altitude helped, and hopefully I’m getting momentum at the right time.” 

With warm, sunny conditions at Morton Stadium, the men’s 100m produced the fastest time ever on Irish soil as USA’s Christian Miller powered to victory in 10.06 (1.3m/s), with Brazil’s Erik Cardoso second and Irish champion Bori Akinola a close third in 10.19, while Tallaght’s Seán Aigboboh came home fifth in 10.27.

Sam Prakel produced a polished performance to take victory in the concluding Morton Mile, the US athlete repeating his 2018 win and clocking a meeting record of 3:50.97, with Britain’s Henrie McLuckie second in 3:51.38 and Cathal Doyle the leading Irishman in fourth with 3:52.24.

The men’s 5000m produced an enthralling contest as Eritrean native Aron Gebramariam – who is now based in London and runs for the Athlete Refugee team – built an early advantage of 50 metres. 

Ireland’s Darragh McElhinney and Nick Griggs let him go when the move came in the second kilometre and neither wanted to be the one to chase him down, with both Irishmen largely keeping tabs on each other until the final lap.

Only in the final 200m did they finally go for broke and they came close to catching Gebramariam, but not close enough, the 19-year-old holding on to win in 13:15.06, McElhinney winning the domestic battle to take second in 13:15.90 and Griggs just behind in third.

“He went into a very big surge and it was the risk we took [to wait],” said Griggs. “But there’s no excuses; if we wanted to win the race, we should have went earlier.”

Nicola Tuthill produced another strong performance to take second in the women’s hammer, the Bandon native throwing 71.07m. Victory went to Canada’s Camryn Rogers, the reigning world and Olympic champion throwing 75.97m.

Sophie Becker turned in a strong run to finish second in the women’s 400m, the Wexford native clocking 52.65 behind Poland’s Kinga Gacka (52.49). 

“I didn’t think I’d be happy with a result like that, but the last few weeks have been challenging for numerous reasons,” said Becker. “My home straight felt really strong so it’s something to build on. We always want a faster time, but I have to take it as it is.” 

Orla Comerford smashed her lifetime best to win the para women’s 100m by a distance, the Paralympic medallist clocking 11.72 ahead of Germany’s Jule Ross (12.65). 

Cillian Kirwan was the leading Irishman in the men’s 800m, finishing third in 1:47.27, with victory going to Britain’s Henry Jonas in 1:46.31.