The TUS International Arena in Athlone hosted the rising stars of Irish athletics on Saturday (March 14th) as athletes from across the country competed at the 123.ie U20 and U23 Indoor Championships. A number of outstanding performances and championship records highlighted an exciting day of competition.
The sprint events delivered thrilling action throughout the day with highly competitive racing across both age groups.
Dannan Long (Enniscorthy AC) produced a superb performance to win the men’s 200m in 21.46, recording his second personal best in just two weeks. Long got the better of Sean Doggett (Athenry AC), who stepped down from his customary 400m to clock a personal best of 21.71 over the shorter distance.
The U20 men’s 60m final provided one of the closest finishes of the day as Ciaran O’Farrell (Donore Harriers AC) and Ronan Ryan (Nenagh Olympic AC) crossed the line together in 6.92 seconds, with O’Farrell getting the nod for gold.
Angela Cielecka (West Coast AC) claimed the U20 women’s 60m title in an impressive 7.50.
The U23 men’s 60m was another high-quality contest with Luca Logue-Fonseca (Clonliffe Harriers AC) emerging victorious in 6.84 ahead of Jamie Moffatt (North Down AC) in 6.95 and Emmanuel Akinrolie (Titans AC) in 6.96. The U23 women’s title went to Uche Disu (Tallaght AC) in 7.59, with Disu later completing a sprint double by winning the 200m in 24.46.
One of the standout performances of the championships came in the U20 women’s 400m where Molly Daly (Kilkenny City Harriers AC) stormed to gold in 53.74, setting a new championship record in just her third ever 400m race. Daly’s run bettered the qualification standard for the World U20 Championships and places her second on the Irish all-time U20 indoor list behind Rhasidat Adeleke. Erin Friel (Letterkenny AC) finished second in 54.20, also achieving the World U20 standard, while Sofia Ranjo (St Laurence O’Toole AC) took bronze in 55.35.
The U20 men’s 400m title went to Ethan Dewhirst (Tír Chonaill AC) in 48.35, narrowly ahead of Andrew Hayes (Dundrum South Dublin AC) in 48.48.
In the U23 400m finals, Joe Doody (UCD AC) claimed the men’s title in 47.96 while Aisling Stratford (Ratoath AC) won the women’s race in 55.06.
The endurance events began early in the morning session with championship records also falling in the 1500m races. Charlie O’Neill (Donore Harriers AC) secured the U20 men’s title in 3:52.11 CR.
The U20 women’s 1500m was billed as one of the races of the day and it delivered in style as Pia Langton (Kilkenny City Harriers AC) won a thrilling contest in 4:21.77 CR. Freya Renton (Westport AC) was close behind in 4:22.08 while Jennifer O’Leary (Nenagh Olympic AC) finished third in 4:29.47. Langton’s performance secured the World U20 qualifying standard while Renton achieved the standard for the European U18 Championships.
In the U20 men’s 800m, Caolan McFadden (Cranford AC) claimed gold in 1:52.57, backing up his recent All-Ireland Schools cross country title. He was strongly challenged by Odhrán O’Sullivan (Midleton AC) who finished just behind in 1:52.73. Freya Bateman (Belgooly AC) won the U20 women’s 800m in 2:09.31, continuing her steady improvement year on year.
The U23 800m titles went to Cian O’Boyle (Ennis Track AC), who impressed with a winning time of 1:51.96, and Fauve Aylmer (West Coast AC).
In the race walks, Ciara Wilson Bowen (Dundrum South Dublin AC) won the U23 women’s 3000m walk title in 14:09.75 ahead of Aisling Lane (Mullingar Harriers AC) in 14:25.60.
Daniel Glennon (Mullingar Harriers AC) won the U20 men’s walk in 12:31.88, with Seamus Clarke (Moy Valley AC) second in 12:37.17. Savanagh O’Callaghan (Tuam AC) took the U20 women’s title in 14:31.13.
Over the hurdles, Orlaith Mannion (South Galway AC) impressed to win the U20 women’s 60m hurdles in 8.41. In the U23 races, Adam Nolan (St Laurence O’Toole AC) won the men’s title in 8.02 while Laura Frawley (Nenagh Olympic AC) took the women’s crown in 8.93. Frawley added a second gold medal by winning the U23 long jump with a leap of 5.80m.
Emmanuel Osas (Ratoath AC) successfully defended his U23 high jump title with a clearance of 1.90m.
In the long jump competitions, Ryan Onoh (Cork City AC) claimed the U20 men’s title with a best leap of 7.21m, while multi-event athlete Enya Silkėna (Ratoath AC) won the U20 women’s title with an impressive 6.13m.
Meabh Corkery (Midleton AC) set a championship record in the U20 women’s pole vault with a clearance of 3.61m. Another record followed in the U23 women’s pole vault as Una Brice (Leevale AC) cleared 3.36m to set a new championship mark.
Darragh Fahy (Loughrea AC) dominated the U20 men’s triple jump with a winning leap of 14.28m, while Caoimhe McDonagh (South Sligo AC) delivered an excellent performance to win the U23 women’s triple jump with 12.08m.
Kotryna Pacerinskaite (Fanahan McSweeney AC) secured a double in the U23 throws, winning both the shot put with 13.19m and the weight for distance with a championship record of 8.45m.
Theo Hanlon (Suncroft AC) took the U23 men’s weight for distance title with 17.03m, while Caoimhe Gallen (Lifford Strabane AC) won the U20 women’s shot put with 12.56m.
Further Information
• Watch back via Athletics Ireland’s YouTube Channel
• Full Results Available Here
