Rhasidat Adeleke headlined the final day of the 123.ie National Senior Track and Field Championships with a record-breaking 100m display in front of a bumper crowd at Morton Stadium on Sunday.

She clocked a new Irish record of 11.13 (+0.7m/s) on her way to gold, finishing ahead of defending champion Sarah Lavin in 11.37.

Adeleke’s time bettered the previous record of 11.27 held set by Lavin last year and completes a remarkable CV for the 21-year-old who now holds every Irish sprint record, indoors and outdoors, from 60m to 400m.

“I feel like I was at the Europeans or World’s out there, literally,” said Adeleke.

“There’s so many people here, so many people turned out to support us and it means the world to me. I love competing in Morton Stadium at the Nationals. It’s very important to me to come back home and make sure I put on a performance for everyone who’s been supporting me throughout the season”.

“I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I haven’t been doing that much speed work; I’ve been trying to focus on the 400m. To be able to come here and get the national record, 11.13, I’m really happy with that.”

Thomas Barr won his 12th national title to huge applause in the men’s 400m hurdles, crossing in a winning time of 50.61. The Waterford athlete once again proved to be one of the most popular athletes for the young Irish fans in attendance with Barr treating fans to an hour and a half autograph session post-race.

Jennifer Sawyer took a competitive women’s 400m hurdles in 1:01.87 to claim her first national senior outdoor title.

Sarah Healy secured back-to-back national senior titles, this time claiming the 800m title in 2:03.64 to follow on from last year’s win in the 1500m.

Mark English dominated the men’s 800m to claim his 9th outdoor title in 1:49.18.

Healy’s 1500m title from last year went to Sophie O’Sullivan, who upgraded on her silver from last year. The Ballymore Cobh athlete was first to break for home and stayed on strongly to cross in 4:20.45 ahead of a fast-finishing Carla Sweeney. O’Sullivan was presented with her first national senior gold medal by her mother, Sonia, who won the same title on five occasions, the most recent coming in 2000.

The men’s 1500m race was another thriller, ultimately going the way of Cathal Doyle, who added to his growing reputation as a champion racer.

The 400m titles went the way of training partners Sophie Becker and Jack Raftery. European silver medallist Becker looked ultra-composed on her way to a 52.68. The race for the remaining podium places was hugely dramatic, with Rachel McCann picking up silver ahead of Rome medallist Lauren Cadden, who suffered a nasty fall when crossing the finish.

Michelle Finn picked up another women’s 3000m steeplechase gold, clocking 10:05.25, while Billy Coogan crossed first in the men’s 3000m steeplechase in 9:11.69.

Nicola Tuthill once again starred in the field events, throwing a superb 68.54m to claim the women’s hammer throw title on the back of a busy spell following her top-10 performance at the European Championships in Rome.

Niamh Fogarty continued her excellent season to take the discus gold with a best throw of 54.64m, while over in the long jump pit, Reece Ademola (7.76m) and Elizabeth Ndudi (6.16m) took home the gold medals to Leevale and Dundrum South Dublin respectively.

 

 

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