Callum Hurley

As the stars of Irish athletics make their final preparations for the European Athletics Championships, which start in Birmingham on Monday, numerous others will conclude their season at meetings in the UK and Ireland on Sunday.

A handful of sprinters will take to the blocks at the penultimate Stratford Speed meeting of the year in east London, while some middle distance athletes will compete at the British Milers Club Grand Prix at St Mary's on the other side of the British capital.

Champion clubs, and counties, will be decided at the National League final in Santry, where a handful of recently-crowned national champions will be in action.

Medal hopes will be high for the large Irish team, which will be in action in Birmingham from Monday to Sunday. 

Sunday's action

Sunday will be a busy day, with competitions in both Ireland and the UK, as Irish athletes look to end their seasons on a high, or do a final bit of tuning up before Birmingham.

The final British Milers Club Grand Prix takes place at St. Mary’s in west London. Sophie O’Sullivan, selected for the 1500m in Birmingham, will race the 800m where she will face opposition from France, New Zealand, Australia and the UK.

Callum Morgan, who raced the 5000m at the recent Commonwealth Games, will be joined by Cormac Dalton, Colin p Smith and Kevin McGrath in the men’s 1500m. Amy O’Donoghue is among the athletes entered in the women’s 1500.

Callum Hurley, who last week ran a PB of 1:47.68, is entered in the 800m, as is Andrew Thompson. Jamie Battle and Shay McEvoy are among the leading Irish contenders in the men’s 3000m.

The penultimate Stratford Speed Grand Prix of the summer could see some of the Birmingham relay contenders in action over the various sprint distances. Molly Scott, on the women’s 4x100m relay squad, is entered for the 100m, as is para-athletics star Orla Comerford. Cliodhna Manning, Jenna Breen, Michelle Duggan and Lana Sutton are entered for the 400m, while Comerford is also on the 200m entries.

Mark Smyth, a non-travelling reserve for the men’s 4x100m relay in Birmingham, is entered for both the 100m and 200m at the east London meeting, and could be joined over the shorter distance by Gabriel Kehinde, Michael Farrelly and Paul Costelloe, among others.

Dundrum South Dublin will be looking to retain their men’s and women’s Premier Division national league titles in Santry on Sunday. Division 1 and County league winners will also be decided in the final domestic competition of the year.

Startlists are not available at the time of writing, but it is expected that national champions Daena Kealy (High Jump) and Ruby Millet (Long Jump) will be competing for St Abban’s. Kate Joyce, who won her first Irish senior title last month, is expected to compete for DSD in the Javelin, while Birmingham-bound Sarah Leahy (100m) is named on the Killarney Valley team.

World U20 Championships

The World U20 Championships will conclude in Eugene late on Sunday night (Irish time). At the time of writing, Siún Quinn is the sole Irish athlete guaranteed to compete on the final day, having qualified for the 14-woman high jump final. Ellis McHugh, Ethan Dewhirst and Des O'Neill will race to join her when they go in the 400m Hurdles semi-finals in the early hours of Sunday morning (Saturday evening session).

Séamus Clarke, 5th in the 5000m racewalk, is the best Irish result so far, with Dubem Amah (200m) and Pia Langford (800m) making the semi-finals in their respective events. 

European Championship

Among the medal prospects at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham are Kate O’Connor (Heptathlon), fresh from her recent Commonwealth Games win; Mark English, the fastest European this year, and World Championship fourth-placer Cian McPhillips in the 800m, and World 1500m finalists Andrew Coscoran and Sarah Healy, the latter who will also race over 5000m.

Bori Akinola (100m), Rhasidat Adeleke (200m), Sophie O’Sullivan (1500m), Nicola Tuthill (Hammer) and Fionnuala McCormack (Marathon) will also be looking for big performances.

Ireland will have teams in both women’s and men’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays, though the mixed relay failed to qualify to defend the title they won in Rome two years ago.

Several athletes could make their Irish senior debut in the relays, while Abbie Sheridan (3000m steeplechase) and David McGlynn (marathon) will gain their first senior vests in individual events.

Ciara Neville and Lauren Roy (100m), Jack Raftery (400m) and Eric Favors (shot put) will join English and McPhillips in a busy opening session from 10:30am on Monday, and there will be a steady stream of Irish interest across the week. Check out the TrackAthletes Irish-specific timetable for details a detailed breakdown of who is competing when.

The championship will be shown on RTÉ and RTÉ Player, with dedicated field-event streams on Eurovision Sport.