The 100m men's final resumes for a fourth occasion after three qualifications, crossing the line first in an unlikely success was Jamie Davis of Raheny Shamrock AC who slumped to the ground in shock after winning by a thousandth of a second from Eanna Madden of Carrick On Shannon AC.
Just how did Jamie Davis become a 100m national champion?
Early years in athletics：
Having previously been an occasional rugby and soccer player, Jamie took up athletics in the summer of 2005 joining with Raheny Shamrock and was coached by Colm Giblin and John Doran at the start. He had initial successes being part of a three in a row national U-17 to national U-19 4x100m relay team from 2005 to 2007, national juvenile individual medals and a national junior 400m title in 2007 in a PB of 49.88 in the outside lane 8, the latter leading to an athletics scholarship with UCD where he came under the guidance of national sprints coach Paddy Fay.
His time as a scholarship athlete in UCD was mixed, due to injury little activity occurred in 2008 and while there was an intervarsity indoor title in 2009 there was no major breakthrough in his then preferred event of the 400m during his scholarship period with a personal best of 49.55 in July 2010, just 0.33 improvement in three years from his national junior 400m title success.
In rethink for 2010-2011 a move to combined events was considered but quickly abandoned. The late great Jerry Kiernan was always one for encouraging people to move up a distance but in Jamie's case he moved down from 400m/200m to 60m/100m/200m and with successes.
Greenshoots of improvement：
In a move to shorter distances Jamie managed a creditable 5th place in the national senior 60m indoor final in February 2011. He also qualified for the national senior outdoor 100m and 200m finals in August that year.
He delivered a medal breakthrough at the national senior indoors in 2012 with a bronze in the 200m. He came 2nd in both short sprint national senior indoors the following year in the 60m and 200m, coming just 0.02 away from glory in the former after defeat by Keith Pike of Clonliffe Harriers. Another bronze medal in the 60m at national senior indoors in 2014 solidified his medal pedigree at national seniors.
He brought his 100m PB down to 10.84 by summer 2012, 200m to 21.91 (ran indoors) in 2013 and 60m indoors to 6.89 in 2014. From Autumn 2012 onwards, he moved from coaching under Brian Corcoran and John Doran to Ian Graham.
The day before：
Running in the 200m on the Saturday, Jamie qualified for the final however it was not a success in coming dead last in 22.46. After a year of strains and in his words struggling to walk up and down a set of stairs he'd had enough and was going to call an end to the season rather than run in the 100m heats the next day, telling his coach, girlfriend Mairead and parents.
The day of the 100m final：
The next day Jamie changed his mind and showed up for the 100m heats. In the heats medal prospects Keith Doherty and Keith Pike were whittled away through disqualifications. In the final itself nerves became frayed as Jonathan Browning, David Hynes and Mark Kavanagh were all disqualified. Hynes in particular would have been the hot favourite.
Jamie himself felt ''positive before the final after equalling my PB in the heats. Before the DQs I thought there was a possibility of nicking a medal but David Hynes's DQ changed things, silver or gold was a possibility with potentially Eanna Madden the new favourite''.
Come the 4th attempt at the race Jamie held his nerve and crossed the line for the win, having not ranked in the top 10 for the 100m that year and in less than 24 hours gone from last in the 200m to first in the 100m.
That interview：
The win was made famous for a honest interview Jamie did after the race with RTE admitting he initially didn't want to run the 100m heats/final and his change of mind, in his own words that his immediate thought after the 200m catastrophe the day before was to get a ''bag of cans'' and forget the 100m the next day and his season.
Aftermath：
Shortly after his national 100m title success Jamie retired from competitive running and moved abroad to New Zealand that winter having completed his studies in UCD.
He is back in Ireland a number of years now and is currently working as a teacher and has returned to Raheny Shamrock as a coach, and since summer 2024 as men's track and field captain.
His own thoughts 11 years later are ''I was happy enough to finish up when I did, I was mentally tired from running and was thinking of retiring anyway so it was a nice way to finish. I do feel a slight imposter syndrome when I look at the list of past winners, Lawlor, Hynes, Hession, big names and regular winners whereas before that final I only won indoor medals. Despite that feeling I know I earned my spot on the list''.