Sophie O'Sullivan, daughter of Sonia, burst to a hugely impressive victory in her 800m heat at the European Championships in Gyor, Hungary.
The 16-year-old eased into the semi-finals with an accomplished run on what was her first appearance for the country of her mother's birth. Sophie is a former U17 Australian champion over 800m and 1500m and was born and raised Down Under.
Sonia O'Sullivan won 5000m silver for Ireland at the 2000 Olympic Games and World Championships gold over the same distance in Gothenburg in 1995.
Later in the evening, Patience Jumbo-Gula (St Gerard's Dundalk) scorched to a championship record in the girls' 100m of 11.59 seconds.
Jumbo-Gula sped to victory after an excellent start with the wind reading +0.7m/s and runs in tomorrow's final at 7:09pm Irish time.
Elsewhere it was a mixed first morning for the Irish.
How about that for a championship debut?
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 5, 2018
Sophie O'Sullivan, daughter of 1998 European 5000m and 10,000m champion Sonia O'Sullivan, won the second heat of the 800m at the European U18 Championships. pic.twitter.com/EHD30KaGFR
Sarah Glennon (Mullingar Harriers) and Emily MacHugh (Naas) got Irish interest underway in the girls’ 5km race walk.
Glennon finished 12th in 25:36.73 while MacHugh was disqualified.
Simone Lalor (St Laurence O’Toole) ran 56.96 in the heats of the 400m and just missed out advancing to the semi-finals by once place.
Miranda Tcheutchoua (Lusk) finished ninth in group B of the hammer and 21st overall with a best throw of 58.31m.
In the second 100m semifinal, Ireland's @Patience_Jumbo lowered the championship record to 11.59 to reach the final at the European U18 Championships. pic.twitter.com/oLaXoaPih5
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 5, 2018
Sophie Meredith (St Mary's Limerick) and Ruby Millet (St Abban's) finished 15th and 17th overall in the long jump qualification with respective bests of 5.79m and 5.63m.
There was some misfortune in both the 1500m and 100m for the boys.
Cian McPhillips (Longford) was placed well in a tactical affair in heat 1 of the 1500m but lost his spike after two laps resulting in a 14th place finish in 4:10.84.
Brian Maguire (DSD) battled well in heat 2 of the 1500m finishing 10th in 3:59.74.
Conor Morey (Leevale) went in semi-final 1 of the 100m where there was a false start but a late recall gun saw him and some of the others run the full race. It was subsequently rerun 10 minutes later where he came 6th in 11.17 - evidently tired having had two 100m races in quick succession.
Israel Olatunde (Dundealgan) finished 5th in the second semi-final in 11.09 seconds.
