TWO IRISH EIGHT-year-olds have finished in 6th and 7th place in their respective races competing for the title of “fastest kid in the world” at the Millrose Games in New York City today.

Saoirse Higgins from Sligo and Charlie Sweeny from Galway were competing against nine others in the finals of the “Fastest Kid in the World Youth U8 55m” sprint at the annual indoor games.

Saoirse came 6th in her race, and Charlie came 7th in his. Saoirse had a time of 9.26 seconds and Charlie had a time of 8.89 seconds.

Charlie was the focus of an RTÉ News report this week, where he was interviewed along with his classmates and teachers at the Radharc na Mara school in Mervue in Galway.

The Deis school has a highly diverse student body, and Charlie is a member of the Travelling Community.

“I realised I was very fast, and once I got picked I was like: what I’m that fast, I didn’t know I was that fast!” he told RTÉ News.

It takes a lot of hard work including jogging, sprinting, and my timetable is very hard because I have boxing on Mondays and Wednesdays and I’ve football on Tuesdays and Fridays and Thursday is my day off.

The pair were selected through the Fastest Feet athletics programme, which gauges schoolchildren’s speed in school across the country. It was set up by Sligo coach Dermot McDermott, and is sponsored by Galway entrepreneur Richard Donovan.

“They were looking for an athlete.. and I think within five minutes they identified Charlie… his speed was off the charts,” Keith Joyce, the principal of Radharc na Mara, told RTÉ.

Noah Brown from Burkina Faso won the boys’ race today, while Bella Brown from Jamaica won the girls’.