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Bori Akinola becomes fastest Irish man in 2025

18 August 2025


Credit: Mark Kavanagh

UCD AC sprinter Bori Akinola clocked a new personal best of 10.20 for 100m on Sunday afternoon at the Stratford Speed GP in London.

The time placed Akinola at the top of this year’s Irish rankings, ahead of the previous best of 10.23 set by fellow former UCD Ad Astra Elite Sports Scholar Israel Olatunde in June.

Akinola has also moved from fourth to third on the Irish all-time list, putting him ahead of Paralympic Champion Jason Smyth and behind Olatunde and Paul Hession.

The 24-year-old won his heat in the first round with a time of 10.24, achieving a personal best with 0.01 off his previous best set in Geneva earlier this year.

In his final race of the day, this time with a less favourable wind of +0.7m/s, Akinola took another 0.04 off, finishing in second place behind Great Britain’s Adeseye Ogunlewe.

The performance comes just two weeks after Akinola won his first national outdoor title,  storming to victory in the 100m at the National Track & Field Championships.

Welsh sprinter Jeremiah Azu clocked the quickest time of the day at the Stratford Speed GP, running 9.97 for the 100m distance.

Olatunde was entered for the race but didn’t start, following his withdrawal from the national athletics championships last month with an injury concern.

The Ad Astra Elite Sports Scholarship programme at University College Dublin supports students who are competing and succeeding at the highest sporting levels. It is the University’s flagship scholarship programme.

By: Rebecca Hastings, Digital Journalist, UCD University Relations

To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie

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