I’M LAVIN IT

Consistent improvement whets Sarah’s appetite

SARAH LAVIN is so close to medal success she can taste it.

The Waterford athlete has been through so many tough days on the track that her latest elite level milestone, finishing a best-ever fifth in the 60m hurdle world indoor final in Glasgow, is appreciated.

Two years ago Lavin finished seventh in the same final in a time of 8.07 seconds.

Last Sunday she finished in 7.91, one hundredth of a second off the PB she equalled in the semi-final a day earlier.

Her progression is clear and while the fields will be stacked in the major championships this summer, she just knows there is more in her.

But for clipping the fourth hurdle in her semi-final in Glasgow, Lavin would have run in the 7.80s for the first time ever – albeit Devynne Charlton (below) of the Bahamas won the final in a world record 7.65 seconds.

“It’s just those tiny, tiny, little margins, it just left an appetite yet again,” she said. “I have to say at this point I’m very hungry to get a medal.

“I can’t say I’m frustrated but just a little bit of appetite remains with what I think my body is capable of producing.

“I know there’s a little bit extra there but it just didn’t come out and maybe there’s a good reason – to be able to carry that outdoors now.

“When you look back, nine of my top 10 best times ever have been run in the last five weeks and that’s exactly what you want to be doing in an Olympic year.

“So I can’t but take that consistency and view it as success.

“From 2014 to 2021, I didn’t make a senior championship, I made one in 2014 at 19 and that was it.

“So I don’t take any of it for granted.

“If you told me that I was going to finish fifth in the world indoors during those years, oh my goodness, I would have been so, so delighted.

“Of course you’re left wanting more, and that is what makes you a good athlete.”