Eilish Flanagan

Many of Ireland’s top cross country athletes will be battling for national glory and Euro Cross berths in Templemore, Co Derry, on Sunday, while others will be competing against the best college athletes in the United States on Friday and Saturday.

Even when accounting for athletes whose clubs may have entered them out of hope rather than expectation, both the men’s and women’s fields for Templemore look pretty competitive. The U23 battles within the senior contests should add further spice to the not-to-be-missed races.

Ten in a row, anyone?

Last year’s champion Keelan Kilrehill is the one notable absentee from the men’s entries, meaning that only Darragh McElhinney, the 2022 champion, and Cormac Dalton, the winner in 2023, stand in the way of making it 10 different winners of the men’s National Cross Country title in as many editions.

Neither McElhinney nor Dalton will bow to such a niche statistic when they toe the line on Sunday, and both should be among those contesting the medals.

Among those looking to continue the streak are Nick Griggs, keen to win his first national senior title on any surface; Brian Fay, who, like Dalton, has a Euro Cross Top 10 finish to his name; European 10,000m Cup winner Efrem Gidey; Callum Morgan, who looked sublime when winning the Autumn International in October; and a resurgent Jack O’Leary.

Paul O’Donnell, Pierre Murchan and William Fitzgerald, who have also made the senior men’s team for Euro Cross in recent years, are also entered, as are Tokyo Olympian Stephen Scullion and recent national marathon champion David McGlynn.

Niall Murphy, who had the race of his life to finish second last year, will be back to defend his U23 title, but to do so he will again need to overcome Griggs and Morgan. Cathal O’Reilly, who finished 8th overall last year, is also still under U23 this year.

Wide open women’s race

As in the men’s race, the women’s race has lacked a consistent winner in recent years, with seven different winners in the past seven editions. The two most recent winners - Fiona Everard (2023) and Ann-Marie McGlynn (2024) - will look to change that.

Another previous winner on the startlist is Michelle Finn (2021), one of six Olympians entered, who has missed a year through injury.

Also entered is last year’s runner-up Niamh Allen, who went on to finish 10th in Antalya. Indeed, there’s a chance that all six from last year’s team compete again for places, with Dannielle Donegan, Mary Mulhare and Cheryl Nolan also entered.

Roisin Flanagan and Eilish Flanagan have both made the team on multiple previous occasions, and are also both entered to compete on Sunday.

Jodie McCann, Laura Nicholson and Eimear Maher, all better known as track athletes, will likely be hoping that an Irish mixed relay team is selected after an absence from the last two editions.

The first three in the U20 and Senior races in Derry will gain automatic selection for Lagoa, while the top two in the U23 categories will also be rewarded with Euro Cross selection. The Athletics Ireland selection policy suggests that they will select further athletes, up to a maximum of five in each event (it’s worth noting that the sixth qualifier for both the Senior and U23 men’s teams last year made the scoring three in Antalya!), leaving the door open for some of the athletes racing in the US this weekend to also be selected.

Across the Atlantic…

While the final lineup won’t be confirmed until the race starts, there could be as many as nine Irish athletes competing in the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Missouri, on Saturday.

Abdel Laadjel won the Big Ten Conference title three weeks ago, and helped the Oregon men gain an automatic spot for the ‘big dance’ last Friday. European U23 10,000m champion Anika Thompson helped the Oregon women qualify, and should start on Saturday.

Anna Gardiner, Cara Laverty, Niamh O'Mahony and Jane Buckley will all feature on the Providence team, which finished 2nd at the North East Region qualifier. Gardiner and Laverty were particularly impressive that day, finishing sixth and seventh individually. Gardiner is still an U20 for Euro Cross, while Laverty, like Thompson, is eligible for the U23 race.

Twenty-four-year-old Matthew Neill was also seventh at regionals and is likely to start for Syracuse. Dean Casey (Colorado) and Billy Coogan (Iona) may also run.

Eleven Irish athletes raced last year, with Casey (30th) and Thompson (32nd) the top Irish finishers. Keith Kelly was the last Irish individual winner of this prestigious event back in 2000.

Adams State will again be medal contenders at NCAA Division II Championships in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Saturday. European U23 and World University Games steeplechase finalist Ava O’Connor and Wexford woman Claragh Keane are among their likely starters.

On Friday, Heather Murphy (Montreat), who competed in the 10,000m at the European U23 Championships earlier this year, will be among the Irish racing at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships.

And next...

The Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships is due to be selected by Tuesday, 25th November. The event will take place in Lagoa, Portugal, on 14th December. Selections for the World Cross Country Championships - set for Talahassee, Florida on 10th January - will be made following the continental decider.

If it feels like there’s been non-stop championship action year after year since Covid, that’s because there has been. And it’s not due to end just yet: 2025 will be the fifth consecutive year with a global senior outdoor track and field championship.

Indeed we’re still experiencing the knock-on effects of earlier Covid-related postponements, with both European and World Indoor Championships set for March.

Here’s a summary of the significant international athletics events scheduled for 2025, the majority of which will feature Irish athletes.

European Indoor Championships, Apeldoorn, NED, 6-9 Mar

The Dutch city of Apeldoorn will play host to the sold-out European Indoor Championships over four days in early March. Athletes will qualify by qualification standard or world ranking. Nine Irish athletes have already achieved automatic qualification standards. Both the Women’s 4x400m and the Mixed 4x400m relay teams are also qualifed, with the latter making its European Indoor debut in 2025.

It’s been six years since Mark English (800m) and Ciara Mageean (1500m) won Ireland’s last European Indoor medals. Ireland’s best result last time out was Darragh McElhinney’s fourth place in the 3000m. Phil Healy finished fourth in the 400m in 2021.

It’s not clear yet who’ll be racing indoors, how many members of the giant-slaying relay teams will be available or who has wintered particularly well, but it’s difficult to see Ireland going a third consecutive European Indoor championship without a medal.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Qualification status of Irish athletes

European Throwing Cup, Nicosia, CYP, 15-16 Mar

The indoor season won’t even have concluded by the time the top throwers open their 2025 campaigns. A little bit of Mediterranean sun will help break up the winter training for those lucky enough to punch their ticket to the Cypriot capital.

Nicola Tuthill finished second in the U23 hammer at the past two editions, and may well be looking to go one better in her final year in the category, though she could instead opt to compete against the senior athletes. The ever-improving Oisin Joyce (Javelin) and Niamh Fogarty (Discus) are others who may be looking to make a mark at this level.

Event information
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Irish Athletes who have achieved consideration standards

World Indoor Championships, Nanjing, CHN, 21-13 Mar

Just two weeks after the European Indoors, the World Indoor Championships will be held in Nanjing, China. If you’re thinking it’s unusual to have two championships indoors, you’re not wrong, though it’s not completely unheard of.

China is a long way to go for an athlete early in what could be another long year. But an additional championship may offer a bonus opportunity for an athlete to get on an international rostrum, or to gain experience at this level. We will wait to see how many Irish athletes will make the trip. Rhasidat Adeleke, one of only two athletes currently qualified, has already stated that she'll be skipping both the European and World Indoors this year.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Qualification status of Irish athletes

European Running Championships, Brussels-Leuven, BEL, 12-13 Apr

The European Running Championships, which will feature 10km, marathon and half marathon championship races, is making its debut this year. The event is being billed as a festival of running, and athletes of all levels can enter to compete alongside the elite athletes.

The 10km and half marathon will be run around the streets of Leuven. The marathon will start by the Royal Palace in the centre of Brussels, and make its way east, via Tervuren Park and the Royal Museum of Central Africa, to Leuven. The half marathon will be held on Saturday 12th April, while both the 10km and marathon races will take place the following day.

The marathon championship replaces the one traditionally held with the European Championships in non-Olympic years (last held in Munich in 2022), while the half-marathon was contested alongside the European Championships in 2016 (Amsterdam) and 2014 (Rome). This will be the first time that European championship medals will be awarded for 10km on the road.

Fionnuala McCormack finished seventh in the marathon in Munich, while Shona Heaslip in 34th was Ireland’s top half-marathoner in Rome last year.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Irish athletes who have achieved consideration standards

World Relays, Guangzhou, CHN,10-11 May

Last year the best teams were fielded in the first round of both the Women’s 4x400m and Mixed 4x400m. With Olympic qualification secured in both events, all the eggs were then placed in the mixed relay basket for the final, and the team set a (then) national record and won bronze.

Both those teams are ranked high enough to be guaranteed a spot in Guangzhou, but Ideally, the Men's 4x400m team would also qualify (they finished 2024 ranked 30th on the Road to Guangzhou, so they might just be one of the 32 teams invited). The men’s 4x100m team, currently ranked 37th, would require some withdrawals to qualify.

Fourteen of the teams for the World Championships in Tokyo will be chosen from the World Relays, the other two spots will be allocated to the next two best teams on time during the qualification window.

The Irish Women’s 4x400m are currently ranked fourth, so if two of the teams ahead compete in Guangzhou and finish top fourteen, then they’ll qualify regardless (presuming that teams are not going to run faster than the time Ireland did in the Olympic final between now and close of the Tokyo window). If the Netherlands, USA and Great Britain choose to skip World Relays, Ireland have a chance of finishing top 14 in Guangzhou without their strongest team.

The Mixed 4x400m team are currently ranked 5th. In theory, they could also qualify for Tokyo irrespective of their Guangzhou performance, but that would depend on at least three of the United States, Netherlands, Great Britain and Belgium taking automatic spots, and nobody else running faster than the 3:09.92 the Irish quartet ran on their way to the European title.

Event info
Athletics Ireland selection policy

European Race Walking Team Championships, Poděbrady, CZE, 18 May

After hosting the 2021 and 2023 editions of this biannual event, Lázeňský Park in Poděbrady will again host the European Race Walking Team Championships. The event, established in 1996, now includes senior men's and women's 20km and 35km races, and 10km races for U20 men and women.

The event provides individuals with a good opportunity to obtain qualification standards for the summer’s major events. Those finishing in the top 8 in the senior events also receive bonus placing points towards world ranking scores.

The team scores in the senior races are calculated by aggregating the positions of the first three finishers. The top two athletes per country count in the U20 team event. The Irish senior men’s 20km team (Alex Wright, Robert Heffernan and Cian McManamon) won bronze at this event in 2017.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Irish athletes who have achieved consideration standards

European 10,000m Cup, Pacé, FRA, 24 May

Similar to Poděbrady for the Race Walking Team Championships, Pacé in France will host the European 10,000m Cup for the third time, though the last edition was actually held alongside the European Championships in Rome last summer.

There will be A and B races in both men’s and women’s categories, with athletes seeded according to prior accomplishments. The addition of pacemakers allows athletes to avail of a rare opportunity to chase personal bests and championship qualification standards while surrounded by athletes of a similar ability.

A full Irish team competed in the men’s race in Rome last year, while Íde Nic Dhomhnaill and Shona Heaslip finished first and second respectively in the women’s B race in Pacé in 2023.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Irish athletes who have achieved consideration standards

European Team Championships, Maribor, SLO, 24-29 Jun

After a stunning team performance in the lowest division two years ago, Ireland are back where they belong in the second division of Europe’s international team competition. A lack of field event power has historically made it impossible to challenge for a place in the top division but, with growth there, 2025 will give some indication of whether or not further promotion is possible for the current generation.

The target, however, this year must surely be to solidify their place, and for athletes – particularly those in the field events – to gain experience at this level. And if everyone shows up, who knows, maybe we could all be surprised.

Ireland’s opposition in Slovenia will include the hosts Slovenia, Austria and Israel who were promoted with Ireland in 2023, Belgium, Turkey and Norway, who were relegated from the top division last time, along with Romania, Denmark, Serbia, Slovakia, Croatia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Latvia.

Event information
Athletics Ireland selection policy

European U23 Championships, Bergen, NOR, 17-20 Jul

Nicola Tuthill, Nick Griggs, Elizabeth Ndudi and Oisin Joyce are just some of the Irish athletes who’ll be eligible to compete at the 15th edition of the European U23 championships in Norway in July.

Tuthill finished 4th in 2023, and has improved her best by almost two-an-a-half metres, made a European Senior final, and competed in the Olympics since then. Griggs and Ndudi both European U20 champions, and Joyce, a World U20 medallist, will also be looking for medals, should they choose to compete.

Irish athletes have had much success at European U23 Championships in recent years. Sophie O'Sullivan, Sarah Healy, David Kenny, Eilish Flanagan and Nadia Power have all won medals since 2019; of those, only Healy had won won a European medal at U20 level.

Event website

FISU World University Games Summer, Rhine-Ruhr, GER, 21-27 Jul, 2025

It’s not clear yet if Ireland will send a team to the biannual, multi-sport event for students. The athletics programme, which will be held in Lohrheidestadion in Bochum, starts the day after the European U23 championships conclude in Bergen.

European U23 Championships will likely be the priority for those who are eligible for both, but athletes like Nicola Tuthill could easily compete in Norway and Germany. Others, for example Sophie O’Sullivan and Jack Raftery, would be eligible for World Universities but not European U23s.

Ireland didn’t send a team to the last edition in Chengdu. Marcus Lawler won 200m bronze six years ago, while Thomas Barr won the 400m hurdles in 2015. Ronnie Delany (1961), Sonia O’Sullivan (1991) and Derval O’Rourke (2005) are also among previous medal winners.

Event website

European U20 Championships, Tampere, FIN, 7-10 Aug

While senior athletics is very much our focus here, it’s difficult to ignore the main under-20 competition of the year. The European U20 Championships is always a good chance to watch some of the up-and-coming talent. The athletes always look like they’re having fun, and with all events shown live and for free on the Eurovision Sport site, it’s an easy event to follow.

Elizabeth Ndudi (gold LJ) and Nick Griggs (silver 3000m) made the podium in 2023. Indeed, 10 Irish athletes have earned 12 medals at European U20 level since 2017. Of those athletes, Griggs, Kate O’Connor, Sarah Healy, Darragh McElhinney and Rhasidat Adeleke have since gone on to compete in global senior championships, with John Fitzsimons also competing at European Senior level.

Irish athletes won five medals at the European U18 Championships in 2023, and some of the athletes who competed at World U20 Championships last year are still eligible, so there’ll be no shortage of talent this time either.

Event information

World Championships, Tokyo, JPN, 13-21 Sep

While there will be plenty to keep the keen athletics fan entertained all summer, they’ll have to wait until September for the ‘big dance.’

Over nine days, the world’s best athletes will compete in the Japanese capital for 49 World titles. Ireland’s last World Championship medal came in 2013 (Rob Heffernan, Gold, 50km walk), and only five Irish athletes have ever won medals at this level. With four near misses in the last two global majors, surely the Irish are due a bit of luck.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Qualification status of Irish athletes

World Road Running Championships, San Diego, USA, 26-28 Sep

While this event may not feature an Irish team, all three Championship events (mile, 5km and half marathon) will be run alongside mass participation events, so anyone can enter.

This will be the first time either the World Half Marathon Championships, or the now-expanded World Road Running Championships, will be hosted by the USA. No Irish athlete has ever won a medal at this event.

Event website

European Cross Country Championships, Lagoa, POR, 14 Dec

After the long trip to Asia for last year’s event, Europe’s premier Cross Country event returns to the Western extremity of mainland Europe, and the Algarve town of Lagoa.

Ireland had a breakthrough performance the last time the event was held in Portugal (Lisbon, 2019), when Efrem Gidey (U20) and Stephanie Cotter (U23) won individual bronze medals and both the U23 and senior women’s teams won silver.

In the four editions since then, Darragh McElhinney (U23 silver, 2021), Nick Griggs (U20 silver, 2022; U20 bronze, 2023; U23 silver 2024) and Dean Casey (U20 bronze, 2023) have added individual medals. The U20 men, U23 men and senior women have also earned six sets of team medals between them.

It’s a long way until December and predicting who’ll be competing and challenging for medals is near impossible, but one thing we can be assured of is a big and vocal travelling group of Irish supporters.