Buckle up; it's going to be another busy one

This weekend is bookended by a Diamond League meet in Rome on Friday and a Continental Tour Gold meeting in Hengelo on Monday, both featuring Irish athletes.

Between those two is a World Race Walking Tour Gold event in Spain, a Leinster Championship with some very strong fields; a busy British Milers Club meeting in Birmingham for the middle distance athletes; distance athletes racing 5000m in Paris; lots of 400m guys and girls in Belgium, and lots more besides.

Rome Diamond League: 1500m starts for Healy and Doyle

After her fabulous 3000m run in Rabat last month, Sarah Healy will be racing her first 1500m of the season at the Rome Diamond League on Friday evening. Healy is in the shape of her life, and it’ll be interesting to see how close she can get to Ciara Mageean’s national record in the coming weeks.

Doyle finished eighth, and was just outside his personal best from the Olympic Games in Paris last year, when he made his Diamond League debut in Rabat, and he’s been rewarded with another start in Rome. While a spot in Tokyo is almost assured given his healthy Road to Tokyo ranking score, the 3:33.00 qualification standard, just 0.15 faster than he’s ever run before, must surely be on his mind.

The Rome Diamond League will be shown live on Virgin Media 3 from 8-10pm on Friday night. The Men’s 1500m is due off at 8:16pm, while the women’s race is at 9:49pm.

Continental Tour Gold comes to Hengelo

After breaking his own Irish 800m record and taking the win at the last European-based Continental Tour Gold meeting a week ago, Mark English is entered for the FBK Games in Hengelo on Monday.

Paralympic medalist Orla Comerford is also due to race in the para-athletics 100m.

All Continental Tour Gold meetings can be viewed in Ireland via the World Athletics platform.

World Racewalking Tour Gold

David Kenny finished 11th in the 20km walk at the recent European Racewalking Team Championships. His time there was his second fastest ever, and he'll be hoping to go close to his 2022 PB of 1:19:44 when he takes to the streets of La Coruna on Saturday.

Matthew Glennon and Ciara Wilson-Bowen are entered for 10km races which are run alongside the highly competitive 20km events.

Continental Tour bronze and challenger meetings and other events abroad

Darragh McElhinney, Oisín Ó Gailín (5000m), Emma McEvoy, Danielle Donegan, Fiona Everard and Aoife O'Cuill are all on the startlist for the FAST5000, a series of track 5000m races in Fance on Saturday.

Several Irish athletes are entered for the British Milers Club meeting at University of Birmingham on Saturday evening, including Roisin Flanagan in the 1500m, and seven Irish athletes in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. Many athletes will be seaking European U20 and U23 qualification standards.

Victoria Amiadamen will race the 400m hurdles at the Meeting International de Limoges in France on Saturday, while Margaret Hayden is on the startlist at a hammer meeting in Germany on Sunday.

The FC Putbos Memorial Buyle in Oordegem (Belgium) has several Irish sprinters on the startlist.

Leinster Senior, U20 and Masters Championships

There is a bumper entry for the Leinster Championships, which will be held at SETU Carlow on Saturday and Sunday. While not all those on the entries will compete, there should still be a competitive men's 100m, where Sean Aigboboh, Paul Costelloe, Max O'Reilly, Michael Farrelly and Marcus Lawler are among the entries and the men's discus where the top three athletes in the country (Eoin Sheridan, Michael Healy and Padrig Hore) are all entered. Other standout athletes listed include Nichola Tuthill, Molly Scott, Saragh Buggy and Sarah Leahy.

Also...

We have listed several other Continental Tour meetings on our calendar page, most of which have livestreams, and we are awaiting some startlists for events on Sunday. 

And don't expect next week to look any quieter. Rhadisat Adeleke will race the 400m at the Oslo Diamond League on Wednesday, seven Irish athletes will compete at the NCAA Div 1 Nationals, and Cillín Greene, Nicola Tuthill and Ava O'Connor will compete in Finland, all before we get anywhere near a weekend.

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