Yemi Talabi continued her superb form Stateside last weekend with a couple of big personal best performances at a track event in Louisiana. The University of Texas Arlington athlete ran an excellent 11.44 seconds for the 100m and, in doing so, took a massive 0.33 off her previous best. She crossed the line in fourth place at the Sun Belt Championships in Lafayette running strongly from lane two. This fantastic time moves 19-year-old Yemi to seventh in the all-time rankings for Irish women over 100m. The national record of 11.28 was set by Phil Healy in 2018.
In the 200m, Yemi also ran a new best with 23.82 to go sub-24 seconds for the first time and set the second fastest time by an Irish woman this year. Her performances have ensured qualification in both distances for the NCAA Regional Championships in Arkansas next week. In only her first year on scholarship in Texas, she is really progressing well as an athlete as part of the track and field programme at UTA. Hopefully Yemi’s good form will continue over the coming weeks, and we may see her in action at the National Championships in Dublin at the end of June.
