Yohann Blake lit up the Morton Games, running the fastest ever 100m on Irish soil with a race-winning time of 10.12 seconds at Morton Stadium in Santry tonight.
Blake lowered Warren Fraser’s 12-month-old record of 10.20 seconds, though the wait for sub-10 seconds on Irish soil goes on.
Blake, the Olympic 100m and 200m silver medallist, blasted out of the blocks but showed some effects of the injury which has ruled him out of the last 12 months competition, with the time still some way off his personal best of 9.69 seconds.
Blake’s Olympic 4x100m team-mate Michael Frater took second in 10.27, with Mario Forsythe clocking 10.30 in third.
However, the news from the Irish perspective was mixed, with Thomas Barr sitting out the 400m hurdles with a reoccurrence of a hip injury.
Barr will continue his preparation for the World Championships in Beijing and will travel to tomorrow’s Diamond League in London.
Barr expects to complete a full warm-up in London tomorrow, but will only then decide on whether to compete in the Olympic Stadium.
Kelly Proper just missed out on the qualifying standard for this year’s World Championships, winning the 200m in 23.54, .34 of a second outside the standard.
Brian Gregan continued on the comeback trail, taking second in the men’s 400m, just behind Britain’s Jarryd Dunn in a sprint to line, with Dunn holding on in 45.89.
Gregan’s time of 45.99 is outside the required standard of 45.50 needed for next month’s World Championships, though he has been improving over the course of the season.
Donegal man Karl Griffin battled to an impressive 800m victory in 1:47.47, having recently finished sixth at The European Under-23 Championships.
Ciara Mageean continued her return from injury to take the women’s international mile race in 4:30.65 ahead of American Shelby Houlihan.
It was a good day for me at the Morton games... a win under my belt. Thanks to all my fans #gettingback pic.twitter.com/datiqWinPm
— Yohan Blake (@YohanBlake) July 24, 2015
Australian Sam McEntee won an enthralling 3,000m in 7:48.35 ahead of American Will Geoghegan in and Ross Proudfoot of Canada.
European 10,000m silver medallist and 5,000m bronze medallist Andy Vernon finished in fourth place.
New Zealander Angela Petty finished under the two-minute mark in the women’s 800m, with the World University Games champion clocking 1.59.09.
The electric evening in the famous old stadium came to a conclusion with Australian Jeff Rieseley dipping under the magic four-minute mile mark.
Rieseley powered past American Pat Casey in the home straight to stop the clock at 3:57.09 as nine athletes raced under four minutes.
Dunleer man Thomas Cotter became the 51st Irish man to break the four-minute barrier, posting 3:58.50.
