Elizabeth Egan | Aug 28, 2026
The last big weekend of the summer sees Irish athletes compete at a trio of Continental Tour silver meetings in Brescia, Berlin and Bellinzona, a Continental Tour bronze meeting in Poland, sprint meetings in north and east London, and a jumps meeting in Bedford.
Two of the European Championship medallists will race for the first time since their Birmingham heroics, and others will hope to collect some valuable Road to Beijing ranking points as they wrap up their seasons.
European 200m silver medallist Rhasidat Adeleke was originally announced for the 100m at Grand Prix Brescia in Italy on Sunday, which would have been her attempt at the distance since breaking the Irish record at the Irish National Championships in June 2024.
The final startlists, however, show her in the 200m instead, where her opposition will include Cambrea Sturgis (USA) and Favor Ofili (Nigeria), both who have sub 22-second personal bests.
Adeleke will race at least once more over 200m before the end of the season at the Athlos meeting in London on 16th September. It was announced on Friday that the second Athlos meeting scheduled for New York on 2nd October - where she was also due to race - has been cancelled.
Sophie O'Sullivan, is due to race over 800m, a distance over which she has broken new ground. She broke two minutes for the first time, and moved to third on the Irish all-time list, right before the European Championships.
Three Irish athletes have made the startlist for ISTAF 2026 in Berlin, another Continental Tour Silver meeting, also on Sunday.
Andrew Coscoran will race a competitive men’s 1500m, where his opposition will include sub-3:30 athletes Cameron Myers, Oliver Hoare (both Australia) and Narve Nordas (Norway), the German record holder Robert Farken (best of 3:30.09 from earlier this year) and European 800m bronze medallist Mohamed Attaoui.
Coscoran’s Irish record stands at 3:30.42, and he ran 3:31.65 at the Rabat Diamond League in May, one of only two non-championship attempts he’s had at the distance this summer.
Sarah Lavin will continue to search for some form over the 100m Hurdles. At this point in the season, anything faster than her 13.07 season’s best will feel like a win.
Lauren Callaghan has been in scintillating long jump form in 2026, jumping personal bests indoors and out, exceeding 6 metres in every competition apart from her season opener in January, and exceeding 6.30m in 9 of the 12 competitions she’s taken part in. Sunday provides a level of competition that will help her reach the next level in the event.
Sarah Healy, who has been dipping her toes in the 5000m this summer, got very close to her 1500m PB at the Diamond League in Silesia a week ago, and she’ll race over that distance again at Galà dei Castelli in Bellinzona on Sunday.
While Healy is the fastest in the field on paper, her opposition in the Swiss city includes European 5000m and 10000m champion Nadia Battocletti, who showed a swift turn of pace in winning those titles.
Bori Akinola is one of 16 entrants for the men’s 100m. After making the European semi-final, the UCD A.C. athlete may well be looking to improve his 10.19 PB from earlier this summer.
Sophie Becker is among the entries for Memorial Zbigniewa Ludwichowskiego, a Continental Tour Bronze meeting in Olsztyn, Poland on Sunday. Like others, she will be racing for the first time since the European Championships, where she made the semi-final of the 400m.
The final meeting of both big London sprint meetings – the BFTTA series at Lee Valley and the Stratford Speed series in Stratford – both take place this bank holiday weekend.
Marcus Lawler and Bori Akinola are the big Irish names entered for the BFTTA meeting on Saturday. Lawler is scheduled to race both the 100m and 200m, while Akinola, also entered for Bellinzona on Sunday (see above) and Stratford on Monday (see below). It was at this meeting last year that Israel Olatunde shattered the Irish 100m record.
Lawlor is also entered for both distances at Stratford Speed on Monday, and Akinola is again down for the100m. They will be joined by Mark Smyth (100m, 200m) and Paul Costelloe (100m, 200m) in the men's short sprints. Ciara Neville, Cliodhna Manning, Arlene Crossan and Lana Sutton are all entered for the women’s 200m, with Neville and Sutton also down for the 100m, Manning entered for the 400m, and Crossan among the 400m Hurdles entries.
Three Irish long jumpers are due to compete at the BIG on Tour Final in Bedford. National champion Sam Healy will compete in the men’s event, alongside Colm Bourke in only his second competition since tearing his ACL a few days after winning the National Indoor title in February 2025. Callaghan is entered in the women’s event, but it is unclear if this is in addition to the Berlin event on Sunday (see above).
Earlier this week, Coscoran, Healy and O’Sullivan (Road Mile) were named alongside Cathal Doyle (Road Mile), Brian Fay, Darragh McElhinney (5km), Peter Lynch, Hiko Tonosa and Barry Keane (Half Marathon) for the World Road Running Championships, which will be held in Copenhagen on 19th and 20th September.
Mark English, the only Irish athlete currently sitting in a qualification spot for the Diamond League Final on 4th and 5th September, is likely to skip that event to focus on the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships the following weekend, for which he looks to have comfortably qualified. It is therefore possible that no Irish athletes will be competing in the Belgian capital.
At the time of writing, Coscoran has slipped outside the Ultimate Championships spots in the men’s 1500m, and though he has the opportunity to improve his score on Sunday, it looks like he may miss out by a spot of two. Sharlene Mawdsley is still within the quota spots for the 400m.
A win for Healy on Sunday in or under four minutes would move her within a couple of spots of qualifying. Racing the 200m rather than the 100m on Sunday brings Ultimates back into the equation for Adeleke. Because the fifth score making up her current Road to Ultimate ranking is relatively low, she would not even need to win on Sunday to grab one of the quota spots.
Tuesday is the final day of qualification, apart from Diamond League wild card spots, which will be decided after the final.
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