Israel Olatunde doesn't care about reputations as he gears up for his first outdoor senior championships.
Olatunde believes this is a special time for Irish sprinting - and he is determined to back that up in Munich.
The 20-year-old has broken his own under-23 Irish indoor record in the 60 metres on three occasions this year - a 6.62 at the national championships got him into the World indoors.
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In June, he ran an under-23 national record of 10.27 seconds in a 100m race in Austria - only Paul Hession and Jason Smyth have run faster in terms of Irish sprinters - before running 10.24 in Tullamore last month, with a following wind.
"I’ve only lost one race this outdoor season and I’ve raced against some fast guys," said the Dúndealgan AC speedster.
"I’m going at everyone at the start line, that’s all you can do at a Championship.
"It’s about going out and beating the guy next to you. Munich should be a fast track, the weather will be good, so you never know what will happen.
"I guess I didn’t think I’d be this fast already though I still have a long way to go. I guess 14-year-old Israel would be proud of where I am, but I’m not done yet."
Olatunde, who was born in Ireland and raised in Dundalk to Nigerian parents, competes in the 100m heats on Monday morning and is confident of making his mark.
"I’m running pretty fast, I’m just excited to be the spearhead to the progression of Irish male sprinters," remarked the final year Computer Science and Data Science student at UCD.
"The direction Irish sprinting is going at the moment, as Ireland’s fastest man, I want to be able to push male sprinting along in the 100 metres.
"There is a good young core of sprinters in Ireland and hopefully we are around for a very long time and can do better than what we've achieved so far.
“Championships are the best place to compete. I feel you are going to get better just by racing against the best in Europe and World.
"I feel it is a special time for Irish athletics and for me."
Like many athletes, Olatunde found the Covid lockdown to be a destabilising time but having come through that, he is certain that this is only the beginning in terms of tapping into his potential.
“I think there is more to come after Covid," he said. "Everyone was weird with training, this year I got back to a bit of normality with my training and I think that helps.
"I have really great training partners, it’s a combination of different things - I think there is more there, 6.6 is fast, which kind of points to a 10.1 (in the 100m) but I think I can go faster.
"I’m not putting too much pressure on myself - I go out and do what I have to do.
"I feel as good as ever, I’m confident in my abilities to go out there and show what I can do - 60 metres and 100 metres, they’re related but they are different events.
"I think just by putting things together will get me down to the times I want to get to."
Olatunde will also compete in the 4x100m relay tomorrow week.
“It was a pretty tough journey to qualify so now, I guess the pressure is off a little bit, just go out there and do what we can do," he said.
"It kind of shows Irish male sprinters are going in the right direction, having a team here at the European Championships, I’m looking forward to competing and showing other sprinters we deserve to be on this stage."
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