Sophie Becker of of Raheny Shamrocks A.C wins the 400m. “I suppose you kind of get some idea of it if you’ve won underage titles, but you see how huge a national title is and the acclaim that comes with it.” In the absence of several established names – Ciara Mageean, Sarah Healy, Andrew Coscoran, Luke McCann and of course Rhasidat Adeleke – others took the chance to shine too, none more impressively than 21 year-old Jack Raftery.įormerly a middle distance runner at Donore Harriers, Raftery had promised to unleash something special in the 400m, and he did exactly that – powering his 6ft7in frame to the front after the first lap, then tearing up the track on the second, winning his first senior title in a championship best of 46.37, now the fifth fastest Irishman in history. The women’s 60m final witnessed a changing of the guard, Sarah Leahy of Killarney Valley winning her first senior indoor title with a lifetime best of 7.30, the Leevale duo of Joan Healy (7.33) and Lucy-May Sleeman (7.38) also making the podium. Indeed it was super-fast, the top six of the eight finalists all setting lifetime bests, Oliver Swinney of the Speed Development Project in Derry second in 6.70, Gabriel Kehinde of Ennis Track third in 6.72. As I said, I love championships, so to go to Istanbul with a national record, we’ll see what happens.” I knew if I produced my best anything could happen. “We kind of just forget about times, just focused on getting through each round, then getting the win. Hopefully that will continue for the next few years, and other guys will improve as well. The record was more that just a winning bonus, Olatunde always acutely aware of the barriers Hession had broken before him: “It means the world, Paul is a class act, it’s just amazing to follow in his footsteps, and to push the boundaries even more means a lot to me. And championships are the best times to give the best performance, I’m so happy to do it in front of this crowd here, it’s awesome.”
It’s been a little bit of a rocky season, my coach just kept me focused, we knew the times would come. “I just came here wanting to give my all. “Yep all good, I just got a bit excited,” he said.
Soon afterwards he was fully recovered too, the UCD student clearly primed now for the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul in two weeks’ time, now ranked seventh best in Europe this season.
At the same Sport Ireland Arena this time last year, Olatunde took the win in 6.62, the expectation being he might well have improved on that by now: he never doubted that time would come.
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