Ailis McSweeney fastest Irish Woman in history!

Rineanna

Ailis McSweeney just blasted to 11.40 in Belgium to break the Irish record!

Qualified for Barcelona! I'm absolutely delighted for her.


Wind: +0.8

1 4 168 MCSWEENEY AILIS 11.40
2 5 151 DAVIN ELISABETH 11.71
3 6 158 ZAGRE ANNE 11.81
4 7 159 LIBERT LAETITIA 11.92
5 2 165 BENNETT GEMMA 12.04
6 8 161 HAJAR AIT HASSOU 12.38

runjb

Super result, that really propels her on. It'll boost her confidence and I think there's even more to come!!

Well done Ailis!

Pherekydes

Super!

Congrats, Ailis.

Amazing to think that Ailis was born 5 years AFTER the previous record was set by 16 year-old Michelle Walsh (now Carroll)!

Pisco Sour

Pherekydes wrote: »

Super!

Congrats, Ailis.

Amazing to think that Ailis was born 5 years AFTER the previous record was set by 16 year-old Michelle Walsh (now Carroll)!

Michelle Walsh was 16 when she set that record??? :eek: Are you sure? Seems like an awful waste of talent if true.

drrunner

04072511 wrote: »

Michelle Walsh was 16 when she set that record??? :eek: Are you sure? Seems like an awful waste of talent if true.

She was nearly 17:)

IrishTrackFan1

04072511 wrote: »

Michelle Walsh was 16 when she set that record??? :eek: Are you sure? Seems like an awful waste of talent if true.

Well maybe in terms of times but she has some phenomenal number of national titles to her name (22 or thereabouts?)

Pherekydes

drrunner wrote: »

She was nearly 17:)

Which is 16.

Michelle Carroll didn't waste her talent. She won 31 outdoor national titles, including 4 sprint trebles. Ailis has broken a legendary record!

thirtyfoot

Great news. No shock after that run into the wind on Sunday.

IrishTrackFan1

Would be great to see Claire Brady translate her indoor time to something similar to Ailis over 100m.

Rineanna

The scary thing is, McSweeney wasn't even on the record-setting Irish 4x100m team! :eek:

IrishTrackFan1 wrote: »

Would be great to see Claire Brady translate her indoor time to something similar to Ailis over 100m.

Definitely.

thirtyfoot

Rineanna wrote: »

The scary thing is, McSweeney wasn't even on the record-setting Irish 4x100m team! :eek:



Definitely.

Or Amy Foster too!!!

Reaganomical

The national record performance courtesy of Flotrack...some run, absolutely tore away from the field


http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/237337/347249

runjb

She decimated that field didn't she?

Onwards to Barcelona now and I think she will motor well there, maybe bring the NR into even more unchartered territory!!!

TrackFan123

Wow that was completely out the blue! Brilliant run

She has to be on that relay team now, and judging by her top end speed there either 2nd or anchor leg

What was the line up of the NR? Proper/O'Rourke/Whelan/Brady???

helpisontheway

It took some bottle for Ailish to announce to everyone on Sunday that she was going to get the qualifying time this week but her getting it was just pure class.A fantastic week for Leevale athletic club and Cork athletics with the performances of their athletes.
The womens relay team is looking very strong now.Ailish and Foster look dead certs along with the experience of O Rourke leaving one spot between Brady and Whelan with Proper looking like she will be the one to lose out.

runjb

Yea I would have to agree, Ailis and Amy Foster both should be almost certainly on the team. I would put Derval on it too, for her experience and indeed her fierce championship pedigree. After that I would lean towards Claire Brady for the final spot!

I think that team could clock a sub 44 sec time,and once you have that kinda time at champs you never know what could happen!

downthemiddle

This is a reward for hard work and committment to athletics.
Ailis didn't win titles as an underage athlete, in fact at one stage she wasn't even the fastest in her family. However she persevered continuing to follow her dream when many had written her off. She juggled her studies, work and athletics career while competing against full time athletes.
This year she took six months off work with the sole intention of qualifying for Barcelona. Without funding for a number of years this must have been difficult for her. Even though her training was going exceptionally well only in the last few weeks did she translate this in race performances.
Knowing that she had to produce a qualifying time this week she must have felt the pressure and she showed what a competitor she is by producing the goods. Credit is due too to Sean and Terri Cahill who have coached her over the past few years. They never lost belief in her ability.
Well done Ailis, a great reward for a lifetime in the sport.

IrishTrackFan1

downthemiddle wrote: »

This is a reward for hard work and committment to athletics.
Ailis didn't win titles as an underage athlete, in fact at one stage she wasn't even the fastest in her family. However she persevered continuing to follow her dream when many had written her off. She juggled her studies, work and athletics career while competing against full time athletes.
This year she took six months off work with the sole intention of qualifying for Barcelona. Without funding for a number of years this must have been difficult for her. Even though her training was going exceptionally well only in the last few weeks did she translate this in race performances.
Knowing that she had to produce a qualifying time this week she must have felt the pressure and she showed what a competitor she is by producing the goods. Credit is due too to Sean and Terri Cahill who have coached her over the past few years. They never lost belief in her ability.
Well done Ailis, a great reward for a lifetime in the sport.

Great post! She is a class act and it is great to see her make this breakthrough. Congrats to the Cahills also, they are a great team.

myflipflops

downthemiddle wrote: »

Ailis didn't win titles as an underage athlete,.

Am i right in saying that the same is true of Irelands fastest man??

I don"t recall Hession being dominant as a juvenile at all.

IrishTrackFan1

myflipflops wrote: »

Am i right in saying that the same is true of Irelands fastest man??

I don"t recall Hession being dominant as a juvenile at all.

Interesting! Paddy Fay has always claimed that Irish sprinters peak at 26.

drrunner

IrishTrackFan1 wrote: »

Interesting! Paddy Fay has always claimed that Irish sprinters peak at 26.

You can't generalise like that IMHO - there are so many different factors at play. Personally I believe it may be true that the genetics may mean that on average, Irish sprinters develop at a more gradual pace. However, given the dearth of world class coaching as opposed to say within the American high school and collegiate systems for power based events, this factor is as likely to play a role as genetics in the development of Irish sprinters. Development rate for different events is an interesting and complex subject.

maryishairy

downthemiddle wrote: »

This is a reward for hard work and committment to athletics.
Ailis didn't win titles as an underage athlete, in fact at one stage she wasn't even the fastest in her family. However she persevered continuing to follow her dream when many had written her off. She juggled her studies, work and athletics career while competing against full time athletes.
This year she took six months off work with the sole intention of qualifying for Barcelona. Without funding for a number of years this must have been difficult for her. Even though her training was going exceptionally well only in the last few weeks did she translate this in race performances.
Knowing that she had to produce a qualifying time this week she must have felt the pressure and she showed what a competitor she is by producing the goods. Credit is due too to Sean and Terri Cahill who have coached her over the past few years. They never lost belief in her ability.
Well done Ailis, a great reward for a lifetime in the sport.

Great post Downthemiddle! It's great to see the hard work and personal sacrifices paying off. The race is available at the below link. The smile on her face at the finish says it all. She ran a great race (under alot of self induced pressure I'm sure), looked super strong and she will hopefully continue the rich vein of form she is in right through to Barcelona. Well done Ailis!

http://www.leevale.org/2010/ailis-mcsweeney-sets-irish-100m-record/