UCD AC sprinter Bori Akinola smashes Irish 60m record
12 February 2026
File photo of UCD AC sprinter Bori Akinola securing a personal best in the 100m at the Stratford Speed GP Credit: Mark Kavanagh / Sportsfile
UCD AC sprinter Bori Akinola has claimed the title of Ireland’s fastest man, having set a new 60m Irish record at the Belgrade Indoor Meeting in Serbia.
Racing at the World Indoor Tour Gold meet, his debut at this level of competition, Akinola clocked a blistering time of 6.54 seconds to finish in second place.
The reigning 60m and 100m national champion took three hundredths of a second off the record set by fellow UCD Ad Astra alumna Israel Olatunde in 2023.
Despite experiencing four false starts in the Belgrade race, Akinola remained unphased and made a lightning start before just getting pipped by Hungary’s Dominik Illovszky (6.52) as they crossed the line.
The 24-year-old’s previous best of 6.59 was ran in Glasgow less than two weeks ago.
The new 60m record comes ahead of the UCD AC sprinter’s planned appearance at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland.
Ahead of this, he will be racing in at the 123.ie National Senior Indoor Championships in Dublin Sunday, 1st March.
In August of last year, Akinola 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 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: David Kearns, Digital Journalist / Media Officer, UCD University Relations
To contact the UCD News & Content Team, email: newsdesk@ucd.ie
