Griggs produces big 5,000m breakthrough in Dublin

Nick Griggs followed his 3,000m personal best in Cork on Tuesday night with an even more impressive 5,000m performance at the Morton Games at Santry

Tyrone athlete Nick Griggs produced a huge breakthrough as he smashed his 5,000m personal best by over 23 seconds when clocking 13:13.07 to finish second in the event at the Morton Games in Dublin.

Griggs followed his 3,000m personal best of 7:41.68 set in Cork on Tuesday by producing an even more impressive run to move sixth on the all-time Irish list for the 5,000m.

The 19-year-old finished 0.63 seconds behind Kenyan winner Amos Langat in a time which took four seconds off Darragh McElhinney's previous Irish under-23 record and also bettered Dermot Donnelly's 26-year-old Northern Ireland senior record by 14.56 seconds.

Griggs had also broken McElhinney's previous Irish under-23 3,000m record at the Cork City Sports on Tuesday night when he finished in third place in a time which also bettered Paul Lawther's 46-year-old Northern Ireland senior record.

Langat and Griggs were well ahead of the other competitors by the closing straight but the Kenyan just managed to hold off the Newmills lad to take the victory.

Griggs' time moved him ahead of the likes of John Doherty, John Treacy and 1983 world champion Eamonn Coghlan in the Irish all-time list.

The Northern Irishman set his previous personal best of 13:36.47 in Belgium last summer and his run on Friday night suggests that 5,000m is the distance where he is going to prosper most in the future.

Doyle wins Morton Mile in 3:52.06

Cathal Doyle, who secured Olympic Games selection in the 1500m as Griggs just missed out, earned an impressive victory in the Morton Mile as his winning time of 3:52.06 took nearly four seconds off his previous best set at the Dublin meeting last year.

Doyle produced a superb closing kick to hold off US athlete Sam Prakel by 0.26 seconds with another Irishman Brian Fay showing encouraging form ahead of his Olympic Games 5,000m challenge in Paris by clocking 3:52.41 to take third spot.

The first 13 finishers all bettered four minutes with Ireland's Sean Donoghue cutting over two seconds off his previous best set indoors as he clocked 3:55.71 to take eighth place.

Other Irishmen Charlie O'Donovan (3:57.94) and Cillian Kirwan (3:58.83) were also under four minutes as they finished in 11th and 12th positions.

Paris-bound Sarah Lavin won the women's 100m hurdles in 12.82 seconds as she finished 0.10 ahead of Liberia's Ebony Morrison.

Another member of Ireland's Olympic team Sophie O'Sullivan took second in the women's 1500m as she ran 4:05.77 to finish 0.79 seconds behind Great Britain's Shannon Flockhart.

Mixed relay squad member Jack Raftery finished third in the men's 400m in 46.44 seconds with Cillin Greene, who missed out on Paris selection despite being part of bronze medal winning squad at this year's World Relays, taking fifth in 46.62 seconds as Britain's Alex Haydock Wilson won in 45.54 seconds.

South African Edmund Du Plessis set an Irish all-comers record of 1:44.22 in the 800m with Mark Milner the leading Irishman in seventh place in 1:47.50.