Kilkenny sprinter Emily Maher yesterday became the first Irish person to win a World Youth Olympic gold medal when she won the 100m at the inaugural championships in Moscow in 11.92 seconds.
The 17-year-old from Huggins town achieved the two fastest times in the qualifying rounds before going on to beat the best from America, France, Brazil and four other nations. Maher today runs in the semi-finals of the 200m.
She has had a string of success in under-age BLOE events and last year won the Irish indoor junior 60m and 200m in record times, but she has never achieved such success at international level. Although she had been running well, particularly over 200m, there was little expectation that she would win such a prestigious title.
Her personal best before this season was 12.05. Michelle Walsh's national junior record of 11.43, set in 1978, still stands.
Maher was lucky to even compete in the games, as there was inadequate funding to send a full Irish team. She was then selected along with five other athletes to represent Ireland in a token team. The trip was funded by the Russian government.
"She brought home her first gold medal when she was seven from Mosney," said her mother Frances yesterday. "Little did I know that in a few years it would be an Olympic medal.
"The phone hasn't stopped ringing. I couldn't believe it when she rang me and said she'd won the gold medal."
Although Maher has been offered several athletics scholarships in the United States, she intends to finish her schooling in Kilkenny. If she then takes up an offer, it is likely to be at Nebraska, the college of the great Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey.
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