Bori Akinola will arrive at the National Indoor Championships in Dublin this weekend in the form of his life as he bids to defend his 60m title.
Akinola broke the Irish record of 6.57 seconds set by Israel Olatunde in 2023 when he lowered the mark to 6.54 in Belgrade earlier this month.
Last year, Akinola recorded his very first victory over Olatunde in the national final, and the 24-year-old is a hot favourite to land a race that proved a catalyst in his career.
"Unless someone beats me for it, I'm not letting it go"
"Winning the indoors last year was such a career-defining moment for me, both mentally and physically, because it was like, 'OK, I can really do this'," Akinola told RTÉ Sport.
"Then I took that with me all through the summer and PB'd in the 100 as well.
"Now I'm taking all that back into this season to defend the title.
"I said that as long as I’m healthy, I’ll always defend the 60 metre indoor title. Unless someone beats me for it, I’m not letting it go."
Both what Ireland's newest sprint star has achieved and how he has achieved it are little short of remarkable.
Akinola emigrated to Ireland from Nigeria with his family in 2017, with his fist formal athletics session coming with Fingallians in Santry in 2018.
The giant strides he has taken since also saw him lower his personal best in the 100m to 10.20 to move to third in the all-time Irish outdoors standings.
However, it's over the shorter sprint trip where his progress has been even more noteworthy. Only four European and 21 athletes globally have clocked faster times over 60m this year.
After the Irish Indoors, his focus will turn to next month’s World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, for which he has already secured a berth with ease.
Akinola exited the 60m in the semi-final at last year's European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn and believes that experience should prime him for a major showing in Poland.
"Apeldoorn was the European Indoors last year; it was my first major one, so there were a lot of learnings from that," the sprinter admitted.
"I know what I need to do. I don't think I'm going to succumb to the pressure anymore like I did in Apeldoorn.
"The goal is to make the final. Whoever is drawn with me in the heats or semis, as long as I win the race – if you win every race in the heats and semis, you're in the final."
Aside from being a relative latecomer to the sport, the UCD alumnus continues to balance his track commitment with work ones, with the computer science graduate currently working as an iOS engineer.
However, Akinola's startling rate of progress means we may get the chance to find out what his full-time commitment to the sport could yield sooner rather than later.
"A lot of them are full-time sprinters, and they’re training probably four or five, maybe six days a week, multiple hours a day at the track," Akinola said of his international rivals. "They have dedicated staff for gym, physio, and recovery, and they have sponsorships as well.
"I'm doing this while working a full-time job, training only in the evenings and not having as much support as they do.
"It's very interesting to see what I could achieve with the same level of focus and commitment to the sport that other people have.
"It's something I'm hoping for towards the end of this year. As long as my performance keeps going up, I know that doors will open for me to give it my all – even if it's just until the next Olympics – because that's my number one goal: to get to the Olympics and put on a performance."
"I've been improving year on year, so I don't see any need to leave, and I’m not that big on change"
Unlike Irish rival Olatunde, who now trains in the mainly sunny climes of Florida with Lance Brauman in a group which includes Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles, Akinola has been putting the hard yards in during a grim winter at home.
Former national champion long jumper Adam McMullen has played a major coaching role in overseeing that process, with his protege adopting an 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it position' with respect to uprooting his domestic training base.
"At the moment, I’m more than happy with what I have right now," Akinola added.
"I have Adam for my track coach and Maria Monaghan – she's my S&C coach and she writes my gym programs as well. To be fair, they've both been working really well.
"I’ve been improving year on year, so I don't see any need to leave, and I’m not that big on change. I don't like getting out of a routine, and I like home.
"I think going abroad would be lonely for a few months, I guess, but then with time you get used to it. But unless there is a situation where I’m not improving or something drastic changes in the coaching set-up, I don't see myself going anywhere."
