Richard Akinyebo made a stunning breakthrough when he twice improved his career best to break the Havering AC senior 100m record set in 1998 – three years before the 19-year-old sprinter was born!
Akinyebo had started the season with a legal 100m best of 10.93secs but twice bettered this mark with clockings of 10.80 and 10.76 at the recent England Athletics Senior Championships.
But on Saturday, competing at the Be Fit Today Track Academy Open at Dagenham’s Jim Peters Arena, Akinyebo was timed at 10.59 in his first round race before improving even further in the second series to an impressive 10.42.
That eraseed the club record of 10.54 set exactly 23 years before by Kevin Farrell, and equalled by Matt Russell in 2004.
As the Olympics get underway in Tokyo, the main domestic action this weekend sees club athletes battle for medals and personal bests at the two-day Essex County Championships at Chelmsford.
The event is usually in May but this year has been moved to a much later date in the rearranged fixture calendar.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here