Season best time for Sarah Lavin at the Golden Spike meet
Lavin finished in a time of 12.74 behind world record holder in the even Tobi Amusan in a time of 12.45. Amusan led from the off with Slovakia's Viktoria Forster battling it out to the line with Lavin given second place in a time of 12.74.
It was a significant improvment for the 31-year-old on her previous season's best of 12.90 which she ran in Finland three days ago.
Up next for Lavin is the European Team Championships in Slovenia this weekend where she will wear the Irish colours for the first time in the outdoor season when she runs in the 100m hurdles and women's 4x100m relay.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
an hour ago
- The Irish Sun
Kate O'Connor targets Irish heptathlon record while balancing media spotlight and Masters dissertation
KATE O'CONNOR'S Masters dissertation is on how to boost audiences for major championships. When it comes to Ireland at least, she may well be the answer as well as the one posing the question. Advertisement 2 Irish pentathlete Kate O'Connor is gearing up for the world outdoors 2 The Irish pentathlete Kate O'Connor with her 2025 European Indoors Pentathlon Bronze and 2025 World Indoors Pentathlon Silver medals With a Now she is gearing up to do likewise outdoors in heptathlon and almost casually mentions she expects to break her own national record of 6,297 points at the World University Games in Germany this month. O'Connor - speaking from her training camp in Portugal - said: 'At the start of the year, I gave myself a couple of goals. 'And I broke them multiple times during indoors, but my obvious goal at World University's is to break the national record. Advertisement READ MORE ON SPORT 'If I finish, that should definitely happen. I'm not really putting a limit on the score I could do, just go out and have a bit of fun, see where I am. 'My first barrier is to break 6500, I'd like to do that at World University Games and then build on it. 'I think I will put together a pretty big score, but I obviously have to go out and do it.' It will be her last such championship with her dissertation for her post-grad course in Communications and Public Relations due in September. Advertisement Most read in Athletics she said: 'It 's actually an athletics based dissertation. I'm looking at visibility of the world champs in 2023 and how to kind of boost the audience for other championships in the future. 'It's been very interesting, looking at it from a different perspective but I can't wait to get it done to be honest. I've it about half done.' Inside Wimbledon star's home for tournament with gym and wine cellar as she reveals bizarre way she unwinds Her exploits, along with others such as Rhasidat Adeleke, Sarah Healy and Mark English, have gone some way to raising the profile of track and field here. And she admitted she was underprepared for the fallout for her two podium finishes earlier in the year. Advertisement She said: 'I was probably very naive. I took like three weeks off after World Indoors - 'I'll just deal with all the media stuff then, I'll get all that stuff out of the way and then I'll just go back into training'. 'And it hasn't really been like that. It's kind of like now every week there's something where people are kind of wanting me to do different things. 'So it's been busy and I've had to change things around a little bit and trying to work out when to say yes to stuff and no to other stuff.' In the absence of an agent, her father, and coach, Michael has assumed additional responsibilities to deal with the extra demands on her time. Advertisement But the impact of her achievements has largely been positive, attracting increased sponsorship to deal with the significant outlay that comes with being a multi-disciplinary athlete. BIG DEAL She recently signed a contract with Adidas and the plan is to be a full-time athlete for at least a few years, although she is honest enough to admit that her studies were in a distant second place of late. After the World University Games, she plans to compete in some individual events, including at the National Championships in a month's time as she gears up for the World Championships in Tokyo in September. Javelin is earmarked for improvement, with her personal best dating back to 2025. And world silver medalist Anna Hall's 800m time of 2:01.23 - a heptathlon world record - as part of a PB of 7032 in Austria last month served as a reminder of how standards are rising. Advertisement She said: 'Her performance was amazing to watch. I think what she's done in the 800m has changed everyone's perspective on what multi-eventers should be running. 'It used to be that if you were running a sub 2:10, you were a great 800m runner. Now it's going to shift towards having to run 2:05 to be at the races. 'I think that it'll take another couple of years to be challenging for the top spot. And that's ultimately my goal.' O'Connor was speaking as it was announced was extending its partnership with Athletics Ireland to 2030 in a multi-annual six figure deal. Advertisement
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
What time/TV channel is the Women's Irish Open on today? Tee times, TV info etc
The KPMG Women's Irish Open is upon us as the Ladies European Tour returns. Carton House hosts the tournament for the second straight year after Annabel Dimmock claimed the title last year. Leona Maguire comes into her home competition in improving form, having recently tied for 19th in the Women's PGA Championship. She is part of a record-setting Irish cast for this year's instalment of the tournament, with sixteen players from the island in contention. Ladie's European Tour number one Chiara Tamburlini is also in action in Kildare, alongside Charley Hull and Bronte Law, who are numbers three and five in the rankings. All the action can be followed on Sky Sports Golf with the coverage beginning at 5pm today. Selected first round tee times (Irish time) *denotes amateur 8:12am - Pia Babnik (Slovenia), Lisa Pettersson (Sweden), *Beth Coulter (Ireland) 8:36am - Lauren Walsh (Ireland), Madelene Sagstrom (Sweden), Chiara Tamburlini (Switzerland) 8:48am - Anna Foster (Ireland), Mimi Rhodes (England), Cara Gainer (England) 9:00am - Leona Maguire (Ireland), Anna Nordqvist (Sweden), *Aine Donegan (Ireland) 9:12am - *Anna Dawson (Ireland), Annabell Fuller (England), Kelsey Bennett (Australia) 9:24am - Ginnie Ding (Hong Kong), April Angurasaranee (Thailand), *Olivia Costello (Ireland) 10:00am - Ayako Uehara (Japan), Dorota Zalewska (Poland), *Rebekah Gardner (Northern Ireland) 10:00am - *Emma Fleming (Ireland), Tereza Melecka (Czech Republic), Alessia Nobilio (Italy) 1:36pm - Annabel Wilson (Northern Ireland), Laura Cowan (Germany), Lottie Woad (England)* 1:48 pm - Olivia Mehaffey (Northern Ireland), Bronte Law (England), Klara Davidson Spilkova (Czechia) 1:48pm - Liz Young (England), Canice Screene (Ireland), Polly Mack (Germany) 2:00pm - Sara Byrne (Ireland), Charley Hull (England), Georgia Hall (England) 2:12pm - Celine Herbin (France), Sofie Bringner (Sweden), *Marina Joyce Moreno (Northern Ireland) 2:24 pm – *Roisin Scanlon (Ireland), Helen Tamy Kreuzer (Germany), Eleanor Givens (England) 3:00pm - *Anna Abom (Ireland), Sanna Nuutinen (Finland), Gudrun Bjorgvinsdottir (Iceland)
Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Tour grandad Stuart McCloskey still adding strings to his bow
Whichever end of the age spectrum in a rugby squad a player may find themselves, the reminders of said fact are constant. Just ask Henry Pollock, tour baby with the British & Irish Lions and designated custodian of the stuffed big cat for the duration of the trip to Australia. For Stuart McCloskey, the grandad of the Ireland squad newly arrived in Tbilisi ahead of Saturday's Test against Georgia, there is the good-natured barracking he receives from interim head coach Paul O'Connell, who is expected to name the 32-year-old at inside centre on Thursday. It was not meant to be the Ulster midfielder's role on this two-Test tour which will move onto Portugal after Saturday's one-off Test, yet the withdrawal of Scotland tighthead Zander Fagerson from the Lions squad due to injury meant a promotion for Ireland's Finlay Bealham, 33, which left McCloskey as the senior man in an inexperienced Irish squad. 'Finlay Bealham absolutely did me in going to the Lions,' a vexed McCloskey said ahead of Ireland's departure from Dublin. 'I messaged him straightaway being like 'you've completely mugged me here, I'm the oldest now'. 'He (O'Connell) gets a dig in most days about how old I am, but I'm still faster than all those young lads anyway, I've got a few more years left in me. I keep telling Jacob (Stockdale) and Nick Timoney I'll outlast them, so I'll get them at some stage.' Being reminded his last trip to Georgia as an Emerging Ireland squad member at the Tbilisi Cup a decade ago was not a helpful reminder of McCloskey's status and the Ulsterman said: 'You're ageing me here, I already feel old among these lads, Paulie did it to me the other day as well. Do I remember much of it? No, I remember the zoo, it was the time the animals escaped from the zoo. 'Yeah, I was pretty naive to what professional rugby was 10 years ago. I didn't really know what I was up to, but a few years under the belt, a few more grey hairs and I think I know what I'm about these days.' With Robbie Henshaw injured and both Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose on Lions duty, McCloskey seems sure to add to his 19 caps over the next two weeks, with Jamie Osborne his likely midfield partner at 13 and his experience tells him every cap is a downpayment on future recognition. Asked what his mindset for this tour was, he replied: 'First of all, play well. I still think I've got a bit of rugby to go in my career, I think I have a few years left. 'So this Lions period the last time, when we played America and Japan (in 2021), sort of springboarded me on to get a lot more caps and be a lot more involved. I think I've been involved in two Six Nations wins in that time and a World Cup. 'Hopefully I'll put a good foot forward for any games coming up over the next few years and keep my head around the place and push into the next World Cup. 'I don't think I'm doing a lot wrong. I think when I've played I've went well, it's just there's four very good centres in the lads, two of them are away (with the Lions) and you could argue Robbie would've been away as well if he wasn't injured, so I don't think I'm too far off it. 'What can I do better? Keep improving on a few things, probably a bit more physicality in defence, I think I've got most things in attack. Add a few more strings to my bow, whether that's breakdown or poach threat, but overall I don't think there's a lot in it. A few decisions go my way, I'm sitting here with a few more caps.' For now, his chief problem is the boss's chirping, but McCloskey revealed he has an ace up his sleeve to deal to O'Connell, though he admitted the former Munster and Ireland captain used to terrify him as an opponent. 'I think I was in one training camp with him. I think I'm the only one in the squad to have played a game against him as well. We won down at Thomond that day (in May 2014) for Ulster, I'll not mention that to him, hopefully that comes up and he sees that. 'No, as a player, incredibly intimidating, you see some of the clips of him from back in the day and he'd (be) red carded basically every week (currently) for what he did but I think he knows that himself now. It was a different time. 'Intimidating as a player, as a coach he has that intimidation factor but I think he's very personable. He lets the young guys come out of their shell, a bit like what Faz is like. He's watched Faz over the past three, four years and learned a lot from that. How has he put his own stamp on it? There hasn't been a great deal different. He's seemed quite laidback to me, but with me being the oldest in the group it's easy to feel a bit more laidback when you're 32, not 20.'
