Israel Olatunde clocks second-fastest time in Irish history in Munich

Israel Olatunde clocked the second-fastest time in Irish history in scorching to victory in the opening round heats of the men’s 100 metres at the European Championships in Munich.

Olatunde powered to a win in 10.19 seconds, one-hundredth outside Paul Hession’s long-standing record of 10.18, set at the European Cup in Vaasa in 2007.

In control for the full race, the Irish sprinter had 0.11 to spare over Poland’s Dominik Kopec in second on 10.30.

The UCD athlete broke his own personal best by five-hundredths to break his own Irish U23 record – he had set his previous mark of 10.24 at the Irish U23 Championships in Tullamore last month - but realistically would need to break the senior Irish record in tomorrow night’s semi-final to have a chance of reaching the final.

The 20-year-old’s new PB ranks him sixth in terms of season’s best among the eight in his semi, which features Italy’s Olympic 100m champion Lamont Jacobs.

Only the top two from his semi-final, plus the next two fastest across all three semi-finals, are guaranteed a spot in the final.

Speaking to RTÉ after his race, Olatunde said: “It’s great to be part of a big Irish team. It’s full of quality and you just want to give your best. I’ve definitely done my best in the heats.”

Earlier, new Irish record holder Eric Favors narrowly missed out on qualification for the shot put final, throwing 19.71m to fall 20 cm short of Simon Bayer’s qualifying mark of 19.91m. He was 15th overall.

Meanwhile, a strong showing from Fionnuala McCormack saw her take seventh place for Ireland in the European Championships women’s marathon in Munich.

McCormack was up with the leading group up to the final five kilometres, and was leading at the front of the pack at various times during