EUROPEAN ATHLETICS U23 CHAMPIONSHIPS: DAY 1 MORNING SESSION

OLATUNDE PROGRESSES ON BUSY MORNING FOR IRISH ATHLETES

Israel Olatunde (UCD AC) safely secured his passage through the semi-finals of the 100m at the European Athletics U23 Championships in Finland this morning (13th July).

Olatunde clocked a comfortable 10.55Q to finish in third place in the first of the 100m heats.

The UCD athlete will be return to the track this evening for the semi-final at 3.30pm Irish time. Oliver Swinney (Speed Development Project) narrowly missed out on joining Olatunde in the next round, posting a 10.66 in his respective heat. Robert McDonnell (Galway City Harriers) will focus his attention on the 200m (Saturday).

Adeyemi Talabi (Longford AC) was first of the Irish athletes in action today, finishing 5th in her heat of the 100m in a time of 11.95. It was unfortunately not enough to progress and Talabi will end her outdoor season following a busy collegiate schedule which started back in January.

Jack Raftery (Donore Harriers) secured his place in this evening’s 400 semi-final with a very assured 46.20 season’s best to claim one of the automatic qualifier places. The Donore athlete will be back in the blocks from 4.30pm this afternoon. Callum Baird (Ballymena & Antrim AC) missed out on a semi-final place (47.26) and his focus will now turn to the men’s 4x400m relay on Saturday.

Nicola Tuthill (UCD AC) was the first of the Irish field eventers in action at these championships, safely securing progression to tomorrow’s hammer final with her first and only throw of 66.23Q.

This evening’s session will be another busy one for Team Ireland with five athletes taking to competition. First up will be World U20 finalist Reece Ademola (Leevale AC) who returns to action in the Long Jump (3.30pm Irish time) where he’ll look to qualify for tomorrow’s medal decider.

Israel Olatunde (100m SF) and Jack Raftery (400m SF) will make their second appearances of the day, while Ava O’Connor will make her championship debut in the first of the 3,000m s/c heats at 5.30pm (Irish time).

Jane Buckley will round out the day for the Irish when she takes her place in the final of the 5,000m where she will look to build on her impressive 2023 season.

All the action from Espoo is streamed live on All Athletics TV in partnership with RTE.

• Day 1 Results HERE.

Irish in action: Day 1 Evening Session - Times listed in Irish Time

ENDS

• Event timetable here.
• Event website here.