Diarmuid O'Connor

The month has already started, but we still have four action-packed weekends to look forward to, in addition to a growing number of mid-week meets. The month will conclude with the European Team Championships, where what should be a strong Irish team will be looking to see just how close they can get to the top tier of Europe’s inter-nation competition.

There’s plenty of Diamond League competition and Continental Tour gold, silver and bronze meetings to look forward to before then, as well as lower-key meetings where some of Ireland’s emerging talent will be looking to register personal bests.

European Team Championships

After being relegated for not competing (due to Covid restrictions) in 2021, the Irish team secured their place back in Tier 2 in fabulous style in 2023. Among the athletes to secure wins last time out were Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie O’Sullivan and Sarah Lavin. Nicola Tuthill (2nd Hammer Throw) and Cathal Doyle (2nd 1500m) have improved considerably since then.

While the competition, particularly in the field events, will be much stiffer in the higher tier, Ireland will hope to field an even better team than they did for Chorzów.

The two-day event, which will be held in the Slovenian city of Maribor on 28 and 29 June,  will be aired on Eurovision Sport.

The Diamond League comes to Europe

There are four European legs of the Diamond League in June: Rome on 6th, Oslo on 12th, Stockholm on 15th and Paris on 20th.

Sarah Healy will be competing in the 1500m in Rome and Paris and Rhasidat Adeleke has just been announced for the 400m in Oslo. We can probably expect to see other Irish athletes in action across the four fixtures.

Other key Continental Tour meetings

Some of Europe’s biggest continental tour meetings will be held in June, including Continental Tour Gold meetings in Hengelo on 9th June; Turku on 17th June and Ostrava on 24th June.

The month kicks off with Continental Tour Silver meetings in Rovereto (silver meeting) on 2nd June, where Mark English will be competing in the 800m and Brian Fay in the 5000m; and Bergen on 3rd June, where Jodie McCann is down to run the 5000m and John Kelly is on the shot putt start list.

Indeed, there are continental tour meetings somewhere in Europe almost every day in June. One of the biggest – the bronze meeting in Geneva on 21 June, should include a healthy group of Irish athletes.

NCAA Div I Nationals

Five Irish athletes will compete in individual events at the NCAA Division I nationals in Eugene from 11th to 14th: Maeve O'Neill (800m), Sophie O'Sullivan (1500m), Shane Brosnan (10,000m), Seán Mockler (Hammer Throw) and Diarmuid O'Connor (Decathlon). Lucy Sleeman and Lauren Roy helped qualify their respective 4x100m teams for nationals and should again feature. O'Sullivan made the final last year, but will have a medal on her agenda when she lines up this year.

Closer to home

Among the domestic meetings worth getting yourself to this month are the Belfast BMC and Lagan Valley Open on 14 June; the UCD Meeting on 18 June, and the Irish Milers Club meeting on 28 June.

Key dates in June

6 Jun: Diamond League Rome, live on Virgin Media
9 Jun: Continental Tour Gold, Hengelo, live on World Athletics
11-14 Jun: NCAA Div I Finals, Eugene
12 Jun: Diamond League Oslo, live on Virgin Media
14 Jun: Belfast BMC with Lagan Valley Open Meeting, Belfast
15 Jun: Diamond League Stockholm, live on Virgin Media
17 Jun: Continental Tour Gold, Turku, live on World Athletics
18 Jun: UCD Athletics Meeting, Dublin
20 Jun: Diamond League Paris, live on Virgin Media
24 Jun: Continental Tour Gold, Ostrava, live on World Athletics
28 Jun: Irish Milers Club Crusaders AC Meeting, Dublin
28-29: European Team Championships, second division, live on Eurovision Sport

This weekend’s two big events see five Irish Olympians in action. Another is among those hopeful of securing a spot in the NCAA Div I finals. A sprinkling of other events have a sprinkling of other Irish athletes in action. Here’s a quick summary of what to look forward to.

Irena Szewińska Memorial, Bydgoszcz

On Friday, Mark English (800m), Cathal Doyle (1500m) and Jodie McCann (1500m) will all compete at the Irena Szewińska Memorial (Continental Tour Gold) in Bydgoszcz. Both English and Doyle have accumulated considerable Road to Tokyo ranking points already, with English best of those who haven’t achieved the Auto Q. Neither were far off their personal bests when they opened their seasons last week, and bettering the respective qualification standards of 1:44.50 and 3:33.00 would be a nice bonus at this point in the summer.

The 1500m appears to be a tune-up outing for McCann who is set to race over 5000m at the Trond Mohn Games (Continental Tour Silver) on Tuesday. There she’ll be hoping to run fast enough and finish high enough to elevate herself back within the quota spots for Tokyo.

Bydgoszcz will be broadcast on the World Athletics Website from 6-8pm, Irish time.

Grand Slam Track, Philadelphia

Sharlene Mawdsley will get her first taste of Grand Slam Track racing when she competes in the long sprints group in Philadelphia on Saturday (400m) and Sunday (200m). She’ll be up against Olympic Champion Marileidy Paulino, among others.

Andrew Coscoran stunned the field when winning the 3000m last time round. While he won’t have to race the 5000m too this time, there is only half the prize money on the line, and Grant Fisher, and the rest, will likely be prepared for his speedy finishing kick.

Mawdsley already has the Auto Q in the 400m for Tokyo, but she may well be looking to revise her 2023 200m PB of 23.18.

Coscoran too, is already sitting on a Tokyo Auto Q in the 1500m, though he has mentioned looking to secure qualification over 5000m too (he is currently sitting in a quota spot). Sunday’s race, however, is unlikely to be fast enough to improve his ranking.

NCAA Regional Qualifiers/first round (Florida and Texas)

At the time of writing, Diarmuid O’Connor (Decathlon), Seán Mockler (Hammer Throw) and Shane Brosnan (10,000m) have already secured their spot at the NCAA National finals, which will take place in Eugene from 11-14 June.

Sophie O’Sullivan, Laura Nicholson and James Dunne (all 1500m) are among the others looking to join them at the Regional qualifiers, which conclude in Florida (East) and Texas (West) on Friday and Saturday.

You can follow the East qualifiers here and the West qualifiers here.

Other in action

Cillian Kirwan and James Gormley (in Karlsruhe on Saturday), Lauren Callaghan and Conor Murphy (in Nice on Saturday), Saragh Buggy (in Lier on Saturday) and Anna Gavigan (in Loughborough on Sunday) are among others competing this weekend. Keep an eye on the homepage over the weekend for other additions, as some startlists have not yet been released.

This weekend runs straight into a busy mid-week programme with Brian Fay and Mark English set to compete in Rovereto and Sommer Lecky, Callum Baird, Oisin Lynch and Christopher Sibanda in San Vito al Tagliamento on Monday, McCann (as previously mentioned) and John Kelly in Bergen on Tuesday, and others throughout the week.