Top American sprinter Ronnie Baker set to make Irish debut in the 100m at the Cork City Sports

TOP American sprinter Ronnie Baker is confirmed for the 100m race at the 70th Cork City Sports on Tuesday night next at the MTU Stadium.

With the event getting underway at 6pm, a huge crowd is expected to see Baker and some of the world's best athletes in action at the eagerly-awaited event.

Ronnie Baker is one of the USA's greatest 100m sprinters of all time with a personal best time of 9.78 seconds. 

He will be making his first trip to Ireland to compete in the Cork City Sports. 

He has been running consistently 10 seconds or under for 100m since 2017. 

He has recently run 9.98 in the US and could be the first sprinter to run a sub 10 second on the island of Ireland.

His main competition will come from Retshidisitswe Mlenga, from RSA, who is in great form running 9.93 seconds last week in Spain and Cejhae Greene from Antigua, who ran 10 seconds dead last month. 

Also in the field will be JT Smith from the USA, a finalist in the US Olympic Trials last weekend.

The Irish record holder and multiple national champion Israel Olatunde will enjoy the challenge of being in a world class race and will be looking to improve his Irish record on the new track at the MTU. 

Bori Akinola, another up and coming Irish athlete, who gave Olatunde a scare at the National Championships last weekend, coming a close second, will also be in the star-studded field.