THERE’S A DOUBLE edge to every success.
Given Israel Olatunde finished sixth at the 2022 European Championships in a time that made him Ireland’s fastest man, the first question everyone asked when they looked at the Irish squad for the following year’s World Championships was, ‘wait, where’s our fastest man?’
“No great athlete has ahead a great career in a straight line”, says Olatunde. Even the 100m sprinters know there are bends and curves ahead of them.
Olatunde’s failure to qualify for the 2023 Worlds in Budapest was the signature disappointment of an underwhelming outdoor season.
“I just wasn’t at the level I needed to be at to qualify”, he admits. “I was a little bit off my PB time. Last season [the fastest] I ran over the 100 was 10.32, which just isn’t good enough for a world championships.”
For a point of comparison, Olatunde’s PB is 10.17, which would have been good enough to progress to the semi-finals of the 100m in Budapest, let along merely qualifying.
“I didn’t really meet my goals”, he says of last year. “It’s different when you don’t meet your goals and nobody is watching. But when you don’t meet your goals and everyone is watching, it can get a bit daunting. Different voices come into the back [of your mind], and I just need to block those out and focus on running fast.”
Olatunde admits to “growing pains” since bursting on the scene two years ago, though he is coy on the technical aspects he is currently working on with his coach, Daniel Kilgallon. One of those growing pains, however, was simply how to deal with the renown of success.
“I guess just refocusing after the Europeans, that winter was a whirlwind of attention”, he says.
“There’s a few different factors. Maybe me being a little bit complacent, and struggling to find consistency throughout the winter. All things that are still a work in progress with my coach.
“Getting caught up with external noise, just not being fully focused on my training: things like that. I was focused on my training, but maybe I thought I was better than I was at that time.
“Obviously it was a great performance to come sixth in Europe but you then have to do it all over again for the new season. After something like that you feel everything will be given to you, but it’s not.
“And even if you are giving your all, there are still external factors coming into play. Nothing is given, all you can do is give your best and hope the stars align.”
It’s one thing to deal with the weight of expectation, but another to cope with the weightlessness of past achievement. To that end, Olatunde says his coach Kilgallon is his “anchor.”
“If my head is floating away he will snatch me back to reality”, says Olatunde. His means of doing so involve a healthy dollop of honesty. Olatunde was upset at his performances at the European team championships in Poland last summer, to which Kilgallon responded by saying he had no right to be upset. Notice he didn’t say there was no reason to be upset.
“He reminded me I had no right to be upset with my performance as this was what I had prepared for”, says Olatunde. “If I want to do better next time I have to fix these certain things, I can’t be resting on my laurels and upset over nothing, I have to get back to work to get where I want to be.”
He is back to work now, with time freed up by the completion of his studies. He is speaking to The 42 amid a three-week training camp in Florida with Kilgallon and a handful of Irish athletes ahead of the outdoor season. The European Championships in Rome from 7 June is the primary target, and a chance to reassert his talent in the event at which he first announced it. The Paris Olympics remain the year’s obvious end-goal. To make it to the Games, Olatunde has to race consistently enough across the outdoor season to sneak into the top 56 in the world or else break his PB and run sub-10 seconds. He kicks off with the Belfast Irish Milers Meet on 11 May.
“I can’t be too mad I missed [the worlds] last year”, he says. “Nobody caused me to miss it. I have no ill feelings as I just didn’t do what I needed to do.
“I know I have bags of ability but just being in the right mental space to produce that when it matters is something I have been working on. Hopefully this summer I see the fruits of my work. The balance between focus and confidence, getting that right. When you’re right in that sweet spot there’s nothing that can really stop you.
“I know I have been in that space before and I can be there again.”
Israel Olatunde was speaking at the launch of launched SPAR’s European Athletics Championship campaign, Rome Comforts.
