Mayo's Michaela Walsh adds to her medal collection

Mayo's Michaela Walsh added to her gigantic medal collection at the 123.ie National Senior Indoor Championships over the weekend.

The Swinford AC athlete claimed the women’s shot put title yesterday (Sunday) with a personal best (PB) performance of 15.60m.

In winning the event, Michaela claimed her fifth national indoor title in a row.

Walsh finished ahead of multi-event star Kate O’Connor (Dundalk St. Gerard's AC), who secured her third medal of the weekend, while Ciara Sheehy (Emerald AC) walked away bronze with a best throw of 13.44m.

Elsewhere, Israel Olatunde (UCD AC) lit up the championships with a blistering 6.57 to win gold in the 60m final on his way to breaking Paul Hession’s 2007 national indoor record of 6.61.

Olatunde, whose time moved him to seventh in Europe in advance of next month’s European Indoor Championships, now holds both the Irish indoor 60m and outdoor 100m national records (10.17), the latter which he set in the 100m final at the European Championships last August.

The result marked another huge leap forward for Irish sprinting, highlighted by all eight finalists clocking 6.83 seconds or better.

Oliver Swinney (Speed Development Project Track AC, 6.70) and Gabriel Kehinde (Ennis Track AC, 6.72) followed Olatunde home to take the silver and bronze medals in a race which saw the top six athletes all set PBs.

The women’s 60m final preceded the men’s decider and provided one of the finishes of the day, with Sarah Leahy (Killarney Valley AC) claiming her first senior indoor title thanks to her 7.30 PB, which moved her to fourth all-time indoors. The Leevale pair of Joan Healy (7.33) and Lucy-May Sleeman (7.38) followed Leahy home, both breaking the 7.40 mark in a thrilling finish.

The women’s 400m was one of the most anticipated finals of the day. Those in attendance were treated to a superb championship performance from Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock), who controlled the race from the front to cross in 53.11 ahead of fellow Olympian Phil Healy (53.97) and Miriam Daly (Carrick-on-Suir AC), who crossed for bronze in 54.39.

Jack Raftery (Donore Harriers) delivered on his promise to take the 400m title in a championship record time of 46.37. He was followed across the finish line by Ciaran Carthy (Dundrum South Dublin AC) 47.49 and David Ryan (Moycarkey Coolcroo AC) 48.24.

Mark English secured his ninth national indoor title with an ultra-professional performance in the men’s 800m final as he finalises preparations for another tilt at European success in two weeks’ time. The Finn Valley athlete posted a winning time of 1.52.47, with Roland Surlis (Annalee AC) 1:53.21 and Jake Bagge (Ferrybank AC) 1:53.77 completing the podium.

An emotional Cheryl Nolan (St. Abban's AC) claimed her first national senior medal to take the women’s 3,000m in 9:22.32, outkicking fellow training partner Michelle Finn (Leevale AC) to claim gold in a side-by-side finish. Niamh Kearney (Raheny Shamrock) went with the leading pair from the gun and would ultimately settle for bronze in 9:26:57.

The 1,500m races looked open affairs on paper, and it was last year’s outdoor champion Carla Sweeney (Rathfarnham W.S.A.F. AC) who left nothing to chance as she took control of the women’s race from the opening lap to eventually cross in a winning time of 4:22.23.

The men’s race looked just as competitive and it was 2019 champion Eoin Pierce (Clonliffe Harriers) who made the best of his way home to take top of the podium in gritty 3.54.28.

The first medals of the day were decided in the women’s long jump competition and the event set the tone for what was to become a hugely memorable championships.

The women’s long jump had promised to be one of the events of the day, and it didn’t disappoint. Elizabeth Ndudi (Dundrum South Dublin) claimed the title with her sixth and final jump of 6.28m. The 17-year old DSD star’s 6.28m best equalled Ruby Millet’s best of 6.28m (Ndudi claimed the gold by way of count back), while Lauren Callaghan (Finn Valley AC) was also in contention throughout and cleared 6.07m to pick up the bronze medal.

Matthew Callinan Keenan (SLOT) and Michael Bowler (Enniscorthy AC) went toe to toe for much of the men’s pole vault competition, but it would ultimately be Callinan Keenen who would bow out at the gold medal-winning height of 4.80m. Bowler had to settle for second with a best of 4.65m, with Rolus Olusa (Clonliffe Harries ) third with 4.55m.

Jai Benson (Lagan Valley) put a consistent round of jumping together in the men’s triple jump competition, clearing 14.30 on three occasions. His third jump of 14.79m proved best on the day.

Pippa Rogan (Sli Cualann AC) continued her impressive run of form in the high jump this season, posting a best of 1.79m today to claim gold in an ultra-competitive competition.

Rounding out this year’s 123.ie National Senior Indoor Championships were the men’s and women’s 4 x 200m relays. Both finals followed this weekend’s record-breaking trend, with the winning men’s team (Clonliffe Harriers AC - Marcus Lawler, Pascal Sebastain Touchie, Aaron Tierney Smith, Craig Duffy, 1:27.49) and women’s team (Dundrum South Dublin AC – Molly Hourihan, Charlotte Bourke, Cara Murphy, Mollie O'Reilly, 1:39.86) setting new national club records on their way to gold.

THRILLING

Day one of the championships on Saturday was also a thriller as Mark Smyth (Raheny Shamrock AC) and Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) starred in the sprint 200m finals, with Smyth posting a superb championship record of 20.77 to claim the 2023 indoor title.

Smyth had impressed in the earlier heats, and in the absence of Robert O’Donnell (Galway City Harriers) who pulled out after his 20.97 in the morning’s heats, the Raheny star never looked like being beaten as he rounded the final bend ahead of Olympian Marcus Lawler who would have to settle for second in 21.17.

Sharlene Mawdsley was just as impressive throughout her rounds of the 200m, setting a PB in the morning’s heat (23.61) before going on to better that time in the final to cross in 23.50 PB, which moved her up one place to sixth on the Irish all-time list indoors.

The Tipperary star has been flying over 400m in recent weeks and her 200m time, which ranks as her fastest indoors or outdoors, is sure to have her full of confidence heading into a big couple of weeks having already secured automatic qualification for the 400m in Istanbul.

The men’s 3,000m was one of the most anticipated races of the day and didn’t disappoint, with Darragh McElhinney (UCD AC) delivering a stunning sub-25-second final 200 meters to claim the men’s 3,000m title in a 7.49.18 championship record.

McElhinney sat in the slipstream of the eventual second-place finisher Nick Griggs (Mid Ulster AC) for much of the race, with the pair stretching clear of the field over the opening laps. Ultimately it was McElhinney’s final kick that sealed the title, with Griggs bravely staying on for silver in 7.55.75.

Hurdle star Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC) continued her consistent start to 2023 to take the women’s 60m hurdles title in 8.03, while Matthew Behan (Crisaders AC) bounced back to retain the men’s title in 8.10.

Olympian David Kenny (Farronfore Main Valley) posted another impressive early season performance to claim the men’s 5k walk title in 19.11.43, while Kate Veale (West Waterford AC) stormed clear if the field to claim the women’s 3k walk with an indoor PB of 14.40.46.

The field events provided a host of outstanding performances across the day, including a championship record of 13.25m for Saragh Buggy (St. Abban's) in the triple jump which went agonisingly close to Taneisha Scanlon’s national record of 13.28. It marked the St. Abban's athlete’s 20th national title (indoor and outdoors).

The much-anticipated clash between Eric Favors (Raheny Shamrock) and John Kelly (Finn Valley) went right to the wire, with a 19.26m from Favors enough to claim the shot put gold on this occasion. Kelly settled for silver thanks to his best on the day of 19.19m.

Ellie McCartney (City of Lisburn) made the trip from her UK base all the more worthwhile by claiming the women’s pole vault title with a best of 4.05m, while Sam Healy (Leevale) was best of the long jumpers with 7.36m.

Kourosh Foroughi (Star of the Sea AC) won a very competitive men’s high jump with a best of 1.95m from Cork’s Ben Donovan (1.90m).