Israel Olatunde

2019 On 27 January, Olatunde set a national U18 record in the 60 m by running 6.84 s to win his second consecutive Irish U20 title. He also won the U18 title in the same distance at the National Juvenile Championships, setting a new championship best by running 6.90 s.

On 29 June, Olatunde set the national U18 record in the 100 m with a time of 10.63 s at the Mannheim Gala in Germany. He also helped the 4 × 100 metres relay team record a time of 40.40 s, which was the second-fastest time ever ran by an Irish U20 team. He placed seventh in both events.

2020 Olatunde won his third straight national U20 title in the 60 m with a time of 6.91 s. He subsequently competed in the discipline at the Irish Universities Athletics Association (IUAA) Indoor Championships and the Irish Indoor National Championships, though his times were not fast enough to medal at either meet.

2021 On 21 February, Olatunde finished second in the 60 m at the Elite Micro Meet after clocking 6.73 s, breaking both the national U20 and U23 records. He competed in the 60 m event at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland, but was eliminated in his heat with a time of 6.79 s in his major championship debut.

In the outdoor season, Olatunde won the national U20 title in the 100 m in a time of 10.51 s. A week later, he won his first national senior title in the same distance with a new personal best of 10.49 s at the Irish National Championships, beating the defending champion Stephen Gaffney in the final. Olatunde competed at the European U20 Championships in July, where he ran in both the 100 m and the 4 × 100 metres relay but failed to qualify for the final in either.

2022 In his first competitive run of the season, Olatunde ran 6.67 s in round one of the National Indoor League to break his own national U23 record in the 60 m. Two weeks later in round two, he shaved three-hundredths of a second off the record with a time of 6.64 s. Olatunde rounded off January by winning the Irish University title in 6.66 s. At the National Championships, he ran a personal best of 6.62 s to set a championship record and claim his first national indoor title. It was only one-hundredth of a second slower than the Irish national record, but it secured his spot in the following month's World Indoor Championships. Olatunde travelled to Serbia to compete in the 60 m event at the World Championships. He finished fourth in his heat after clocking 6.66 s and did not advance to the semifinals.

Olatunde opened the outdoor season with a gold-medal performance at the Irish University Championships, posting a time of 10.50 s in the 100 m. On 14 May, he ran a new personal best of 10.35 s to win gold at the Belfast Irish Milers Meet. On 2 June, Olatunde improved his time to 10.27 s, setting a national U23 record and moving him into third-place on the Irish all-time list. Later that month, he captured his second consecutive national senior title in the 100 m distance, followed by the national U23 title in July.

On 15 August, Olatunde ran a new personal best of 10.19 s in the 100 metres preliminary round at the 2022 European Athletics Championships, breaking his own U23 national record. The following day, he finished 6th in the final and set a new Irish record of 10.17 at the distance. It was the first ever appearance by an Irishman in the 100m final at a European Athletics Championships.

2024 He competed in the 4x100m relay at the 2024 European Athletics Championships, alongside Bori Akinola, Mark Smyth and Colin Doyle.

Personal life Olatunde is a Christian. Type Event Time Date Place NotesOutdoor 100 metres 10.08 16 August 2022 Munich, Germany +0.1 m/s (wind), 200 metres 21.80 4 August 2021 Belfast, Northern Ireland +0.6 m/s (wind) 4 × 100 metres relay 39.27 24 July 2022 Tullamore, Ireland Indoor 60 metres 6.57 19 February 2023 Abbotstown, Ireland 200 metres 22.39 27 January 2019 Athlone, Ireland

International championships results

National titles National Championships 100 m: 2021, 2022 Indoor National Championships 60 m: 2022 Championships 100 m: 2022 IUAA Indoor Championships 60 m: 2022 U23 National Championships 100 m: 2022 U23 Indoor National Championships 60 m: 2022 U20 National Championships 100 m: 2018, 2021 U20 Indoor National Championships 60 m: 2018, 2019, 2020 Juvenile National Championships 200 m: 2018 Juvenile Indoor National Championships 60 m: 2018, 2019 200 m: 2018