There were successive Irish records in the 4x100m relay, a fastest split of all for Israel Olatunde, but still no Irish medals on day three of the European Under-23 Championships in Espoo, Finland. That promise still awaits for Sunday.
After qualifying earlier on Saturday with a national Under-23 record of 39.52 seconds, the quartet of Gabriel Kehinde, Runo Ayavoro, Colin Doyle and Olatunde bettered that again, running 39.51 to finish fifth.
Olatunde, who clocked the fastest anchor leg of 8.95 seconds, expressed satisfaction nonetheless: “Hopefully we can build on this and make more finals and keep pushing Irish relay on over the next few years. We all get so much support from home and we’re so grateful to everyone”.
Victory in the race went to Italy in 38.92, ahead of France (38.92) and Poland (39.06).
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Ava O’Connor finished eighth in the 3,000m steeplechase final, also improving her best to 10:01.34. “It’s my first year competing at under-23 and it’s a new event for me, so to come out in here and make a final, I’m really happy with that,” she said.
Anika Thompson finished the 10,000m in 12th place, running 35:26.91, leaving everything on the track and will undoubtedly come back stronger following a long season stateside.
Sunday’s final session brings several medal hopes. Sarah Healy (1500m), Sophie O’Sullivan (1500m), and Ruby Millet (long jump) have all safely secured their passage through to Sunday’s finals, while the men’s 4x400m relays teams also secured their places in the relay finals courtesy of another Irish Under-23 record.
O’Sullivan was first to qualify for the 1500m medal race, winning her heat impressively in 4:18.25. Healy followed up shortly after, taking control of her heat with two laps to go to cross in a winning time of 4:16.58.
The Irish duo, who are ranked number one and two, are likely to face a stiff challenge on Sunday from Klaudia Kazimierska from Poland (4:16.20) and Britain’s Sarah Calvert (4:16.50) who posted the two fastest times in this morning’s qualifying round. Sunday’s 1500m final is set for 4.25pm Irish time.
The men’s 4x400m team of Andrew Egan, Callum Baird, Aaron Keane and Jack Raftery followed the trend by smashing the Irish U23 record to book their place in Sunday’s final (4.45pm Irish time) with a stunning 3:06.34.
Millet (St Abbans AC) posted an outdoor PB of 6.42m on her second jump to also advance from Saturday morning’s qualifying round, a performance that will give her great confidence when she returns to the pit on Sunday at 4.35pm. Cian McPhillips, who goes in the final of the 800m, is well experienced at underage level and certain to be in the medal mix too.
Another smashing run from Brian Fay saw him break the long-standing national 5,000m record on Saturday evening in the Netherlands. Competing at the Night of Athletics meet in Heusden, the Raheny runner produced the race of his life to finish second in a top-quality field, crossing the line in a time of 13.01.40.
In the process the 24-year-old knocked two seconds off the previous record which had been held by Alistair Cragg, since September 2011.
It marks a significant step forward in Fay’s young career, well under the automatic qualifying standard for the World Championships in Budapest as well as next summer’s European Championships in Rome and Olympics in Paris.
Fay has been based at the University of Washington since completing his studies at Dublin City University and has enjoyed success at NCAA collegiate level.
In what has been a fruitful 2023 for him so far, he has also lowered his personal bests over 1500m and the mile.
