Giver her now trademark consistency it was no surprise Sarah Lavin produced one of the standout victories at the 70th staging of the Cork City Sports, delighting another bumper athletics crowd with her win in the 100 metres hurdles.
Just over two weeks before moving on to the Paris Olympics, the Limerick sprinter went under 13 seconds for a remarkable 11th consecutive time this season, clocking 12.83 (with a legal wind of +1.8 m/s) ahead of Talie Bonds from the US, second in 12.95.
Praising the newly resurfaced Munster Technological University (MTU) track, Lavin was also one of the most popular winners that also included Reece Ademola in the long jump, while Nick Griggs ran yet another Irish underage record, taking down the under-23 3,000m record, while still only 19.
“Yeah it was great to arrive down to a brand new track tonight, and when I saw the crowd here too, I thought ‘well I have to win this one tonight’, but great to have this track just down the road now,” said Lavin.
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“I would have liked to have gone a little quicker, it was cool enough tonight, but it’s so nice to compete at home, I’m still in a thick training block before Paris, just over a month to go, to get that peak, but it’s great to practice a few things under pressure.”
Sophie O’Sullivan also returned to the same meeting where her mother Sonia triumphed many times over the years, the 22-year-old moving up from the 1,500m, where she won the national title last month, to twice that distance of 3,000m.
After a searing pace set by Cork’s two-time Olympian Michelle Finn, Taylor Werner took the win there in a lifetime of 8:43.12, a high-quality race where the first nine women broke nine minutes, with O’Sullivan having to settle for 9:08.65.
“When you come to Cork, one of the top-class meetings on the Irish calendar, you want to run well,” she said. “So a little disappointed not to run as well as I can, but it’s all just building for Paris guess, and all good preparation for the Olympics.”
Olin Hacker from the US won a high-quality men’s 3,000m in 7:40.49, where Griggs was also rewarded for his courageous running from the gun when nailing third in 7:41.68: still only 19 (he doesn’t turn 20 until December), that also took down the Irish Under-23 record of 7:43.86 which had belonged to Cork’s Darragh McElhinney, who got clipped on the penultimate lap and faded to 16th, running 8:03.25.
Still only 21, Ademola won the long jump with his fourth round best of 7.71m, before national champion David Cussen from local club Old Abbey AC also won the high jump with a best of 2.11m.
A stiff tailwind ruled out sprint records in the earlier, but later Torrie Lewis, the teenage sensation from Australia, clocked a legal 23.01 to win the 200m where Paris bound Phil Healy and Sophie Becker finished fifth and sixth, running 23.34 and 23.51 respectively.
Louise Shanahan also produced one of her best races this season to nail second in the 800m 2:02.65, victory there going to Keegan McKenna from the US in 2:01.60.
In the climax race of the night, Nathan Green from the US produced another stunning mile run, the 21-year-old winning in 3:53.67, with three-time Irish 1,500m champion Cathal Doyle rewarded with a near two-second personal best, clocking 3:54.48 in second, the top-12 men all running sub-four.
