Paris Diamond League and much more to look forward to over the coming days
Elizabeth Egan | Jun 20, 2025
Another weekend; another Diamond League start. But that's far from all we've got to look forward to over the coming days. Irish Athletes will be competing in Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Estonia, Portugal, UK and Belgium on Saturday, before moving on (some of them physically) to the UK, Poland and France on Sunday.
Diamond League
The biggest meeting of the weekend will take place in Paris on Friday night, as Sarah Healy (1500m) and Mark English (800m) take on some of the World’s best athletes in the middle Diamond League meeting of the year.
Healy, fresh from her first Diamond League win in Rome, will likely be looking to revise her 3:57.46 PB, and may even be looking to give the national record (3:55.87) a scare.
English has had a strong start to the season, having already broken the Irish record twice and dipping under 1:44 for the first time. He’ll be looking to be more competitive among the world class field than he was in Oslo last week.
The Paris Diamond League will be shown live on Virgin Media Three from 8-10pm (Irish time). The men’s 800m will start at 8.15pm, while the women’s 1500m will close out the programme at 9.50pm.
Saturday’s Tour of Europe
A number of Irish athletes will be competing at Continental Tour Bronze meetings around Europe on Saturday as they seek qualification standards and world ranking points.
Nine sprinters and both sprint relays will compete at Athleticageneve EAP in Switzerland. The in-form Bori Akinola and Irish record holder Israel Olatunde will combine forces in the men’s 4x100m relay before doing battle in the 100m (though they are unlikely to be in the same heat).
Sean Aigboboh (100m), Michael Farrelly (100m) and Marcus Lawler (100m, 200m) complete the men’s squad.
The women’s team is made up of Ciara Neville, Sarah Leahy, Aisling Kelly and Sive O’Toole who will all race the 100m.
Sarah Lavin (100m Hurdles) and Roisin Flanagan (3000m) are both entered for Motonet GP Kourtane in Finland.
Lavin will be looking for a confidence-boosting run ahead of next weekend’s European Team Championships while Roisin Flanagan will be hoping that a fast race will improve her Road to Tokyo standings.
Callum Baird (400m) and James Gormley (1500m) are both on the startlist for the Anhalt Meeting in Dessau, Germany, while Oisin Lynch (800m) will compete at the Heino Lipp Memorial in Jöhvi, Estonia.
Robert Hewison, Alex O'Neill (800m), Lughaidh Mallon, Thomas Moran, Cara Laverty (1500m), Seán Tobin, Efrem Gidey and Danielle Donegan (3000m) are among a large Irish entry for the British Milers Club meeting at Loughborough. This is a Continental Tour Challenger (Category D) meeting.
Seán Donoghue (1500m), Rosie Roberts (5000m) and Mark Hanrahan (3000m steeplechase) are entered for the Gold Gala Fernanda Ribeiro (Continental Tour Challenger) meeting in Maia, Portugal.
Saragh Buggy will be taking part in the Triple Jump at the Ciney Golden Series, a category F meeting, in Belgium.
Sunday, Fun Day
Sophie Becker (400m) and Shane Bracken (1500m) will be looking for ranking points and race sharpness ahead of the European Team Championships when they take to the startline at the Meeting International d'Athlétisme de Troyes Aube (Continental Tour Bronze) meeting in France.
Jodie McCann will race the 1500m at the Konopacka Warsaw Classic, a women's-only Continental Tour Bronze event, in Poland
Bori Akinola will be among those making a B-line from Geneva to Stratford on Saturday night to take part in Sunday’s Stratford Speed Track Open (Category F).
Max O'Reilly, Paul Costelloe, Molly Scott, Orla Comerford, Precious Akpe-Moses, Aisling Kelly, Sive O'Toole, Joe Doody and Arabella Adekoya are among a large Irish entry for the event.
Please note that we are still awaiting startlists for a small number of meetings, and will update this article, if relevant, as soon as they become available.
