Sarah Lavin saw off an impressive effort from multi-event athlete Katie O'Connor to claim her eighth National Senior Indoor 60m hurdles title at the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin on Saturday.
Lavin produced a smooth run to cross in a winning time of 8.07, finishing ahead of O'Connor who ran a PB of 8.21 to go third on the Irish all-time list behind Derval O’Rourke and Lavin. Orlaith Mannion was third in a time of 8.45.
Looking ahead to the World Indoor Championsips in Poland in three weeks' time, Lavin told RTÉ Sport's Greg Allen: "I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't a tiny bit disappointed not to go sub-eight (seconds) today, but at the same time 8.0 is reasonable and respectable.
"My first hurdle has definitely improved. I think now it's very much getting that synchronicity between the timing of it that isn't exactly comfortable at the moment. I'm trying to marry it all together."
For O'Connor, it was a very satisfying day's work. The Dundalk woman had a remarkable 2025, winning heptathlon silver at the World Championships in Tokyo, gold at the World University Games, and medals at both the World and European Indoor Championships.
To put it up to Lavin in the 60m hurdles was highly encouraging; O'Connor bettered her previous PB by nine one-hundreths of a second.
"I'm absolutely delighted," she said. "I went out there in the heat and I walked away and I was like, 'what was that?', because I've been training really well and I wanted to come out and execute that and I just felt like I didn't. So then I put myself in the position of like, 'right, you've got one chance to commit to this' and I committed to it in the final.
"And that's what I came ultimately here for, to shake off the cobwebs and get myself ready for World Indoors. I think I've put myself in a pretty good position.
"I expect PBs for myself all throughout indoors again. So I'll go out and do my best to do that."
O'Connor competes in the long jump event on Sunday.
Sophie Becker stormed to her first national senior indoor 200m title with a superb indoor PB of 23.43, having clocked 23.52 in the afternoon's earlier heats.
Racing out of lane 6, Becker utilised her opening 100m speed to break clear of the field to cross ahead of Molly Daly (24.07) and Mollie O’Reilly (24.14).
"I am very happy with that," Becker told RTÉ Sport.
"I think I wanted to come out here and win it and I wanted to run a PB so they're very two big boxes ticked. Unfortunately I haven't qualified for the World Indoors but I think I need the extra few weeks just to get back into winter training, back to a block of that and then we have the World Relay Championships in April so hopefully I'll be on the squad for that."
The men’s 60m hurdles went the way of Adam Nolan who successfully defended his 2025 gold with a 8.03. Sean Carmody was second in 8.19, with last year’s high jump champion Ciaran Connolly third in 8.45.
Mark Smyth won his third national indoor title in a titanic tussle with defending champion Marcus Lawler. The Raheny ace wasn’t for catching as he held off a strong finishing Lawler to cross in a winning time of 21.11. Lawler crossed for second in 21.24, with Adam Murphy third in 21.68.
A second helping of championship action will follow on Sunday with he likes of Sharlene Mawdsley, Andrew Coscoran, and Irish 60m record-holder Bori Akinola set to take to competition.
RESULTS
Women’s 200m
1 Sophie Becker Raheny (Shamrock AC) 23.43
2 Molly Daly (Kilkenny City Harriers AC) 24.07
3 Mollie O'Reilly (Dundrum South Dublin AC) 24.14
Men's 200m
1 Mark Smyth (Raheny Shamrock AC) 21.11
2 Marcus Lawler (Clonliffe Harriers AC) 21.24
3 Adam Murphy (Tinryland AC) 21.68
Women’s 60m hurdles
1 Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC) 8.07
2 Katherine O'Connor (Dundalk St Gerards AC) 8.21
3 Orlaith Mannion (South Galway AC) 8.45
Men’s 60m hurdles
1 Adam Nolan (St Laurence O'Toole AC) 8.03
2 Sean Carmody (Leevale AC) 8.19
3 Ciaran Connolly (Le Cheile AC) 8.45
Women’s High Jump
1 Aoife O'Sullivan (Liscarroll AC) 1.75
2 Sommer Lecky (Finn Valley AC) 1.75
3 Lauren Duffy (Bohermeen AC) 1.65
3 Maeve Fleming (Leevale AC) 1.65
Men’s High Jump
1 Mohammed Ibrahim Halil (Raheny Shamrock AC) 1.93
2 Darragh Kelly (Craughwell AC) 1.90
3 Emmanuel Osas (Ratoath AC) 1.90
Men’s WFD
1 Michael Healy (Leevale AC) 9.11 NR
2 David Tierney (Leevale AC) 7.99
3 Robert Higgins (Na Fianna AC) 7.08
Women’s WFD
1 Kotryna Pacerinskaite (Fanahan McSweeney AC) 8.70 NR
2 Laura Dolan (Ferbane AC) 6.46
3 Bridget McDyer (Finn Valley AC) 6.29
Men’s Triple Jump
1 David Onwudiwe (Ennis Track AC) 13.96
2 Darragh Fahy (Loughrea AC) 13.94
3 Joseph Gillespie (Finn Valley AC) 13.75
Women’s Triple Jump
1 Daphni Doulpsti Teeuwen (Raheny Shamrock AC) 12.54
2 Caoimhe McDonagh (South Sligo AC) 12.21
3 Anna Ryan (Moycarkey Coolcroo AC) 11.49
