Athletics 2023

MASSIVE RUN BY MICHEÁL POWER TO BECOME THE 2ND WATERFORD MAN EVER TO BREAK 4 MINUTE MILE.

West Waterford’s Micheál Power competing for his USA college Tulsa University this evening Friday at the Arkansas Invitational Indoor meeting in Fayetteville Arkansas, he wrote himself into the athletic history books by becoming only the second Waterford man to ever break the magic 4 minute barrier for the distance, recording a time of 3 minutes 58.76 seconds.

Micheál was narrowly beaten in the race by Lexington Hilton Washington State University who clocked 3.58.70. Micheál who was home over the Christmas break was training diligently for this event as he felt he was coming into the shape needed to have a crack at this 4 minute barrier.

This is a hugely positive progression for the Ballinamuck man becoming Waterford's second ever sub 4 minute miler along with his club mate David McCarthy who ran 3.55.75 indoors in Boston in 2012 and followed this with a 3.57.85 outdoors in Cork in 2013. Big congratulations to Micheál and this achievement, and best of luck with his preparations now for an upcoming 3.000 meter indoor race in a few weeks.

Results: Men 1 Mile (Finals)

1 Lexington HILTON Arkansas 3:58.70

2 Michael POWER Tulsa 3:58.76

3 Isaac AKERS Tulsa 4:00.65

4 Scott BEATTIE Tulsa 4:02.26

5 Eric CASAREZ Texas A&M 4:02.55

6 Christian BAKER Tulsa 4:03.55

7 Ben SHEARER Arkansas 4:04.84

8 Clay SHIVELY United States of America 4:04.95

9 Reuben REINA Arkansas 4:06.00

10 Josh SHEARER Arkansas 4:06.31

Some live running for those who fancy it this morning, normally a decent field toeing the start line.

What a field, cant wait to see Diver compete against the likes of Damato(one of my favorites on strava, always joking) and McColgan.

Might be a surprise or two in this one, that's why I love watching the majors

Few Irish in action this evening in New Balance meeting Boston.

Mark English 1.46.57.

Fay, Coscoran, Mageean running as well later on

3rd best NCAA all time. Faster than her outdoor record

That outdoor time could plummet this summer

David Gillick’s outdoor record is 0.8 below his indoor best and he was a bit of an indoor specialist

I think Adeleke’s run equates to well under 50s outdoor. Altitude is a factor of course but because of her height and long legs, I don’t think she’s suited to indoor running

(Apologies to any sports scientists if I’m completely off on that one!)

It really is an extraordinary event. Consistently won around sub 14 minutes and drawing in really good athletes without being world class names. Its a great race for the good club runners to have a real crack at running a fast 5k. For that reason I wonder why more irish athletes don't take part in it. I know I would have loved to run in such a loaded race.

I've ran the 3k in Armagh 3 times, including this year, always drags me to a season's best even in February and happy to get schooled in overall position.

What makes the races great is a combination of the depth in quality and large number of supporters, there's a volume of noise, particularly the last 300 which must be 5-6 deep all the way.

The course is just ok, not pancake flat and the surface is pretty uneven, but because of the depth if you take your foot off the gas for 2 seconds, you'll be passed by 3 or 4 runners which keeps you in the zone.

Couple of Irish results of note this weekend.

Luke McCann ran 3.53 in the Wannamaker mile at the Millrose games yesterday.

Sharlene Mawdsley set a significant new indoor PB of 51.91 over 400m in Metz. For context, her outdoor PB is 51.70. If she can achieve some consistency at this level, she could do well at European indoors.

Meanwhile, in that same 400m race in Metz, the incredible Femke Bol ran 49.96, the fourth fastest indoor time in history and the fastest time in the world since 2004. With Shaunae Miller-Uibo out this year on maternity leave, Bol should really consider the flat 400. What an amazing athlete she is.

The two best 400m runners might be 400m hurdlers. Eek

Great run from Keely Hodgkinson too.

Good to dmsee Girma getting that record consistently up there at world level. Katir on the other hand,... Unbelievable improvement over the last 3 years. 7.46 in 2020 to 7.24..

Great morning of racing at the world cross country championship. You can watch it on world athletics on YouTube.

What a dramatic finish to the senior women's. I won't spoil it for anyone who did see it. But I would encourage everyone to have a look at it.

Few good results from day 1 of the national indoor champs.

Sarah Lavin won the 60m hurdles in 8.03.

Mark Smyth took the 200m title in 20.77.

Sharlene Mawdsley won the women’s 200m in 23.50, a new PB, setting her up well for the 400m at the Euro Indoors. I feel like this is the first year she is starting to realize her obvious talent.

Darragh McElhinny with a scorching 25 second (I think) final lap to beat Nick Griggs in the men's 3000m

Edit: 7:49:18 for a championship record too

Just phenomenal. What an athlete taking down a 40 year old WR. Love Bol. Great advertisement for athletics.

Props to her team mate Lieke Klaver who ran 50.34 in the same race. That’s something like the 12th fastest time in history too.

The Dutch would be some force in the 4x400m if only they could find two more women capable of running 50.xx. Lisanne DeWitte is in that ballpark but she is nearing the end of her career. After that, they have nobody unfortunately.