Meath middle-distance star Colin Costello pencilled his name into Irish athletics' record books yesterday by beating Ray Flynn's 29-year-old junior mile mark at Santry.
The 19-year-old, who is due to take up a scholarship at the end of August at the University of Arkansas, finished sixth in the Morton Mile at the Dublin International event, clocking 4 minutes 01.83 seconds to beat Flynn's long-standing record of 4:02.60.
It caps a brilliant six days for Star of the Sea athlete Costello, who captured the 1500m title at last weekend's European Junior Championships. A 65-second third lap robbed the Morton field of the predicted sub-4 minute finish.
Victory went to Australian Yousef Abdi (4:01.13), American Luke Watson (4:01.30) claimed second, with Tullamore and Ireland's James Nolan (4:01.36) back in third.
Also at the Dublin International, Kilkenny hammer thrower Eileen O'Keeffe chalked up another Irish senior record, just seven days after a lifetime best throw of 68.14 metres at the National Championships. World-ranked 48th, the 24-year-old O'Keeffe threw 69.36m to romp to victory and set herself up for a crack at the 70-metre mark at the forthcoming World Championships.
