After an exciting evening in Bishopstown mid-week, the continental tour rolls into Santry on Friday, where the Morton Games will kick-start another exciting weekend of athletics.
Abroad, middle distance athletes will be racing at the Watford BMC, many of the sprinters and hurdlers are heading to the Stratford Speed meeting in London, while a mix of sprinters and jumpers will be chasing personal bests in Kortrijk, Belgium. Athletes will also be competing in Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Germany and the United States.
Junior athletes have until Sunday night to achieve standards for the World U20 Championships, while this weekend marks the two-weeks-to-go point on the Road to Birmingham. By the end of the weekend, there will be just 4 weeks to go until the biggest event of the year.
Morton Games
The second of Ireland’s two Continental Tour Bronze meetings, the Morton Games, will feature many of the athletes we saw in Cork on Wednesday, including a similarly world-class women’s hammer field, some additional overseas star quality and a few Irish athletes we’ve not seen a huge amount of this season.
Fans will have a sneak preview of some of the national title battles that will be fought out on this track in two weeks’ time, as well as witness some evolving twists and turns on the road to Birmingham.
For a detailed breakdown of the international and domestic athletes to look out for, check out the news features on the Morton Games website. Here we’ll take a look at a few interesting events from an Irish perspective.
Women's 1500m
The unfolding storyline of the women’s 1500m - and the cacophony of potential outcomes in terms of Birmingham qualification - is particularly intriguing. Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan boxed off the automatic qualification standard at the World Championship last September, and are highly likely to be on the European Championships team.
While Ciara Mageean almost certainly won’t use her wildcard spot as defending champion, Irish athletes have known that there was another spot up for grabs, irrespective of Mageean’s availability, and three athletes in particular have been invested in chasing that final spot.
Both Eimear Maher and Jodie McCann achieved the Athletics Ireland B standard in the past week. Laura Nicholson, however, is the only one of the three currently within quota on ranking points. Both criteria need to be met to make the team.
Nicholson will be hoping to better the 4:07.00 mark on Friday, and both her and Maher will be looking to increase their ranking points in Santry. McCann, whose points from Wednesday won't be added until next week, is racing in Portugal on Saturday (see below).
A fast race at Nationals has the potential to elevate all three within quota come close of qualification, but the side quest of securing a national title is more likely to lead to a cagey contest. And the dream outcome for any of the contenders would be hitting the 4:03.50 automatic standard in the coming weeks.
Men's 5000m
Darragh McElhinney, Nick Griggs (both with the automatic standard) and Brian Fay (currently sitting in a quota spot) are likely to make the 5000m in Birmingham, and they will be among those racing that distance on Friday. Griggs wasn’t far off Fay’s National record of 13:01.40 last summer, and in the right conditions on the right day, all three have the potential to break 13 minutes.
Also racing over 12.5 laps are Jack O’Leary, who has the 10,000m standard for Birmingham, Cormac Dalton who ran a solid 3000m in Cork on Wednesday on return from injury, Callum Morgan, who’ll be racing this distance at the Commonwealth Games at the end of the month, and Shay McEvoy, who actually has the Athletics Ireland B standard for the 10,000m, but is too far down the rankings for that to be a realistic dream.
The national title decided at this distance last year was one for the ages. A slightly different cast, at the same venue, could well lead to similar showstopping performances. And that’s before we consider the more-than-cameo appearances of the overseas actors. While nobody knows what drama might unfold, this likely to be one not to miss.
Men's 400m
With the mixed 4x400m team now unlikely to qualify to defend their title in Birmingham, male 400m athletes will be hoping that they hold on to their top-16 position in the men’s 4x400m relay, for most, their only likely route to the European Championships.
Three of the athletes who would be hoping to make the cut for any team selected are racing on Friday, and will be looking to impress in the one-lap event. Jack Raftery, who has the Athletics Ireland B standard and is currently just outside quota, does still have a shot at making the individual event. This will be his first race since mid-May.
Sean Doggett has run personal bests both indoors and outdoors this year, and won the Irish U23 200m title on Sunday. He’ll be hoping to continue his progress on Friday as he looks to make his second European Championship team, following his debut in Rome as a 17-year-old.
Andrew Egan ran 45.86 last season, and is slowly building towards that level this season. Could he spring an upset on the reigning national and national indoor champions, and which, of any of them, will be the first Irish athlete to run sub 46 this season.
Other events
Bori Akinola and Sean Aigboboh will go head-to-head again over 100m, Nicola Tuthill will have another shot at upsetting the Olympic and World Champion and breaking the 19-year-old national hammer record, and Alex O’Neill will have another shot at the Athletics Ireland B standard she missed by 0.01 seconds last week.
There were no Irish winners in the international events in Cork. The Morton crowd will be hoping for a few podium-topping performances, not least in the men's mile which will close the programme. Cathal Doyle will be looking for his second Morton Mile title, and the fourth Irish win in five years. Hitting the 1500m point in 3:33.50 or faster – the automatic standard for Birmingham – would be the cherry on top.
Other Continental Tour meetings
Colin Doyle (100m), Paul Costelloe (100m, 200m) and Rhianna McCarthy (100m, 200m) are entered for the Fast Arms, Fast Legs Continental Tour Challenger meeting in Wetzlar, Germany on Friday.
A healthy consignment of middle distance runners are heading to Watford for the British Milers Club (BMC) Grand Prix, a Continental Tour Challenger meeting, on Saturday. Among them are Finley Daly (3000m steeplechase) who is chasing the Athletics Ireland B standard for Birmingham; and Neasa Ni Ainifein, Niamh Carr, Zoe Toland (1500m) and Ella Fennelly (3000m) who have been in personal best-smashing form recently.
Noah Harris, who just missed the World U20 qualification time in Cork on Wednesday, is also on the startlist for the 3000m. Pia Langton, who got her second World U20 qualifier in Cork on Wednesday, and Colin P Smith, who has got a lane at the Morton Games, are also on the startlist at the time of writing, but presumably won’t be racing.
The entries for the bronze level Moore-Guldensporenmeeting in Kortrijk include high jumpers Sommer Lecky and Daena Kealy; Lauren Callaghan who has been edging ever closer to the Athletics Ireland B standard for the long jump (6.55); Adam Nolan (110m hurdles), and sprinters Katie Bergin (100m, 200m), Molly Daly (400m), and Benjamin Richardson (100m, 200m).
McCann has run personal bests in her last two 1500m races, and bettered the Athletics Ireland B standard for Birmingham in her most recent outing on Wednesday. She will race again at the Meeting of Braga in Portugal (Continental Tour Bronze) on Saturday, as she continues to boost her Road to Birmingham ranking.
Elizabeth Ndudi (Long Jump) is also competing. Like McCann, she has the Athletics Ireland B standard, but needs a serious boost of ranking points if she is to make it to Birmingham.
Eilish Flanagan on the 5000m startlist for the Sound Running Sunset Tour in Los Angeles. This would be the Tokyo Olympian's first track race since 2024.
Sunday’s big meeting from an Irish perspective is Stratford Speed where a huge contingent of sprinters and hurdlers are entered. The women’s 400m Hurdles list, alone, contains the names of half a dozen Irish athletes.
Ciara Neville, Precious Akpe-Moses, Molly Scott, Sarah Leahy and Mollie O’Reilly are among the leading names in the women’s 100m, while Max O’Reilly, Colin Doyle and Michael Farrelly are entered in the men’s 100m.
Adam Murphy and Commonwealth Games-bound Anna McCauley look set to get a runout over 200m; Hugo Magee, Joe Doody, Darragh Murphy, Aaron Keane and Michelle Duggan are entered in the 400m, while Victoria Amiadamen and Cara Murphy are among those going in the 400m Hurdles.
After a mid-week win over 1500m in Joensuu, Maddie Mooney will again race in Finland, this time over 800m at the Tampere Meeting on Sunday.
Kealy, entered for both Morton on Friday and Kortrijk on Saturday, is also scheduled to compete at the Klaverbad International High Jump Meeting (Continental Tour Challenger) in Zoetermeer, Netherlands on Sunday.
Elsewhere
The Monaco Diamond League also takes place on Friday. There are no Irish athletes on the startlists, but fans can expect to see Faith Kipyegon (3000m), Simon Ehammer (Long Jump), Julien Alfred (200m) among the talent-packed fields. The meeting will be broadcast live on Virgin Media Two from 7-9pm.
Mikey Kent, another athlete chasing World U20 qualification, is entered in the long jump at two category F meetings in the Netherlands over the weekend. He has already surpassed the 7.60m standard once, and needs another jump in that range to book his ticket to Eugene.
