Even before Sarah Lavin crossed the line with daylight to spare this race had number 13 written all over it. When her winning time showed 13.13 seconds Lavin just had to laugh.
It doesn’t just bring her tally of Irish sprint hurdles titles to 13 – eight outdoors and five indoors; Lavin has also spoken about trying to break the Irish 100m hurdles record which has belonged to Derval O’Rourke for the last 13 years (they were also born 13 years apart, incidentally).
Given the hurricane breeze blowing into their faces there was no chance of breaking that record here, but Lavin still ran as smooth and efficient as ever. The Limerick athlete from Emerald AC is due back at the Morton Stadium on Sunday to challenge for the 100m flat.
“It doesn’t get any easier, you still have to clear 10 hurdles, they’re still in the same place,” said Lavin. “It’s always one of the most nervous days of the year, and yeah, conditions were testing, -5.1 (m/s), I can’t believe that.”
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That crazy headwind was also felt in the men’s 110m hurdles final, where James Ezeonu just held off Ger O’Donnell, the Leevale athlete getting the nod – 14.28 seconds to O’Donnell’s 14.29.
Lavin will race once more over the hurdles in Bern on Friday, before next month’s World Championships in Budapest, the hope and plan being the high level of competition there will bring her closer to Derval’s mark of 12.65 seconds, set in 2010. Lavin’s current lifetime best being 12.73. After Bern, she will fly out to a training camp in Slovakia on (yes) August 13th.
Day one of the championships was perhaps more conspicuous by the athletes not starting their events. Rhasidat Adeleke announced she was withdrawing from the 200m on Friday evening, on medical advice, after Ciara Mageean had also withdrawn from the 1,500m due to a minor injury. Mark English was also a late withdrawal from the 800m heats.
Adeleke however was still present to witness Katie Bergin from Moyne AC land that 200m title in 24.60, well clear of Laura Nally from Galway City Harriers in second (25.18)
Mark Smyth from Raheny looked the man to beat in the 200m, having improved the Paul Brizzel’s national indoor record with a time of 20.64, but he was made work for it. Leevale’s Colin Doyle had the edge coming into the straight, but Smyth turned on the style, winning in 20.87 seconds from Doyle’s 21.17.
Those testing conditions eventually improved later in the afternoon, and the Morton Stadium witnessed several championship best performances. Earlier, Eric Favors from Raheny improved the shot put mark to an excellent 19.91m, with his last effort, improving the 19.25m set last year by James Kelly.
Saragh Buggy from St Abbans AC also extended her remarkable winning streak in the jumps, landing an eighth national triple jump title with a best of 13.03m. Nicola Tuthill, who recently finished fourth in the European Under-23 Championships, won another hammer title with a best of 67.67m. Sean Mockler from Moycarkey Coolcroo took the men’s crown with his best of 64.49.
In the absence of English, Cian McPhillips was the best of the qualifiers in the 800m, the UCD athlete running 1:50.75, with John Fitzsimons also looking impressive in winning the first heat. Andrew Coscoran also dropped down from 1,500m to make the final. Louise Shanahan too looked perfectly comfortable in the women’s 800m heats.
Sophie O’Sullivan and Sarah Healy, who finished one-two over 1,500m at those European Under-23 Championships, will renew that rivalry in the final, both winning their respective heats – Healy first in 4:36.16, then O’Sullivan in 4:43.06.
Sommer Lecky won another women’s high jump title for Finn Valley, clearing 1.80m, before Michelle Finn from Leevale defended her 3,000m steeplechase title, in 10:10.14.
Elsewhere, there was another impressive field result for Edenderry’s Cian Crampton, who threw a personal best of 59.32m to win a bronze medal for Team Ireland in the boy’s discus on the final day of competition at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Maribor.
On his fifth throw, Crampton moved back into the medal positions, throwing a metre further than his previous best, with 59.32m. It’s the second medal won by Team Ireland after Conor Murphy, silver medallist in the cycling time trial, and gymnast Maeve McGuinness.
