Eight events to look out for over the weekend and other potential storylines
Elizabeth Egan | Jul 25, 2026
Between 12 noon on Saturday and 8pm on Sunday 40 individual senior national titles and five national relay titles will be decided. Dreams will be realised. Hearts will be broken. Memories will be made.
The 154th edition of the Irish National Track and Field Championships promises to be a golden one, with exciting head-to-heads right across the programme.
And there are not just national medals on the line. European Championship spots will be decided. And a record or two may also be broken.
Here are some of the expected highlights and storylines across the action-packed programme.
Men’s 800m: Two world-class athletes going head-to-head
Another edition of Mark English versus Cian McPhillips is an easy head-to-head to get excited about, and a somewhat obvious place to start. Both have the tools to win fast-run races or slow tactical affairs, but only one of them can top the podium on Sunday, and while English has history and recent form on his side, McPhillips is no dark horse.
English got his season off to the best possible start with his first-ever Diamond League win in May, and last Saturday joined McPhillips in the sub 1:43 club. Missing out on a World final and loosing his national record to the younger athletes will have been a tough blow for the Donegal man in Tokyo, and will, no doubt, have motivated his training in the intervening period.
McPhillips, on the other hand, is coming into form at just the right time, and will be keen to win his first senior outdoor title. Despite not quite living up to the hype last year, or perhaps because of that, this rematch should not be missed.
If English wins, it will be his 11th National 800m title. He will not give up his crown easily.
Both athletes secured European Championship qualification standards in Tokyo, and are currently ranked second (McPhillips) and fifth (English) on the road to Birmingham. English is the fastest European in 2026, while McPhillips, despite the setbacks this spring, will be oozing with confidence following his fourth place at the World Championships last year. Both will be medal contenders in Birmingham next month.
Women’s Long Jump: Four into three doesn’t go
With four athletes consistently well over 6.20 metres this season, and at least two looking to propel themselves into European Championship qualification spots, the women’s long jump could be the event of the championships.
Elizabeth Ndudi is the national record holder, and has surpassed the Athletics Ireland B standard for Birmingham. She’s been in a race against time, however, to collect ranking points, after an NCAA season where placing points are difficult to come by.
The DSD athlete is currently 45th on the Road to Birmingham, with 30 places available. As things stand (i.e. not taking into account results elsewhere this weekend), a wind-legal win in 6.60m would move her within quota.
Lauren Callaghan has been the most consistent athlete of the year, jumping 6.30 or beyond in eight competitions, and going beyond 6 metres in all but her opening competition of the indoor season in mid-January. She has also been canny in her choice of events – both indoors and out – and has sat on the cusp of the quota spots for Birmingham right throughout the season.
The Finn Valley athlete is, however, just short of the Athletics Ireland B standard of 6.55m, which she would need to jump on Sunday to be selected for Birmingham. She jumped personal bests of 6.50m and 6.51m earlier in the season, so that target is not completely out of the question.
Ruby Millet made her return to long jumping after an three-year absence in Belgium on 6th June. There she jumped 6.38, just 6 cm short of her lifetime best. She has competed sparingly since, most recently jumping 6.26 at the AAI Games on Sunday.
Even after the national championships she will not have enough results for the Road to Birmingham ranking, but making another national podium would be a fitting way to round out her comeback season.
Sophie Meredith has also made a stunning return to competition after missing all of 2025. Her best before this season was 6.08m, a distance she has surpassed in all 5 of her competitions this year. Her personal best now stands at 6.24m.
Callaghan is the defending champion, Ndudi won in 2023 and 2024, while Millet was the winner in 2019 and 2022. Meredith has yet to win her first outdoor title. Saragh Buggy, a three-time winner, is also entered.
Women’s 1500m: So many stories rolled into one
The women’s 1500m is incredibly interesting, both from a competitive perspective (who will do it? How will it play out? Who will win the title?), but also from a qualification for Birmingham perspective, with three athletes vying for a potential third spot.
It is also a great reminder of the inherent inequality between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ of the qualification-by-ranking system.
Sarah Healy, who ran the standard in Tokyo last September, has raced just four times in 2026, once each at 1500m, the mile, 3000m and 5000m. Sophie O’Sullivan, who also bettered the 4:03.50 Auto Q at the World Championships, has also been able to ease into the season, running four times over 1500m and twice over 800m since March, but only the last two of those, time-wise at least, anywhere near her own incredibly high standard.
Eimear Maher and Jodie McCann, by contract, have been on the hunt for the B standards – both securing that in early July – and the ranking points needed to get within quota. Maher has raced the 1500m eight times since late May, and Jodie has run the 1500m or mile 11 times in 2026. They both raced four times in the 12 days, in four different countries, in early July.
Both are still outside the 30 available slots, but a win in a reasonably fast time on Sunday could elevate them within quota. And their ticket to a fast time could lie at the feet of Laura Nicholson, the defending champion, who still needs the B standard if she is to have any hope of selection.
However, should Nicholson run 4:07.00 or faster, and finish in the top two, she would likely be the one to secure the final spot, irrespective of how well McCann and Maher do.
If O’Sullivan and Healy race (they are both also entered for the 800m and may choose the shorter distance), we could be in for a re-run of the 2023 event, one of the most extraordinary races in recent years, where Healy, beaten to the European U23 title by O’Sullivan a week earlier, came out on top.
One of the big two may race the 800m with the other cruising to the title here, but don’t ignore the story unfolding behind them. And anyone thinking this will be an easy title to win, could well be mistaken.
Men’s 5000m: The potential for another last-lap burnup
The 5000m was the men’s event of the meeting last year, with two-time champion Brian Fay and eventual winner Andrew Coscoran involved in a relentless burn-up over the final lap.
Darragh McElhinney was involved in a similar last-lap dash for top Irishman with Nick Griggs at the Morton Games on this track two weeks ago, the Cork man eventually edging it.
With Griggs and Coscoran slated to contest the 1500m, the battle for the title is likely to be between Fay and McElhinney, and while McElhinney appears to be the in-form at the moment, if Fay – the fastest Irish man over the distance in 2026 - is with him at the bell, then expect this to be yet another tight tussle.
Jack O’Leary, qualified for Birmingham in the 10,000m, is unlikely to want to sit and try kick, and he may well play a role in how this race plays out. If either of the big hitters falter, he is certain to be there to pick up the pieces.
Sean Tobin, also not a stranger to tight finishes at national championships, could add further spice to this one.
Women’s Hammer: Tuthill v a 19-year-old national record
A fifth national title appears to be all but a formality for 22-year-old Nicola Tuthill. The World finalist, however, will likely be taking yet another crack at Eileen O’Keeffe’s 19-year-old national record of 73.21
Tuthill set what was at the time a personal best of 71.75m here last year, and had since improved to 72.73m, just 48 centimetres short of O’Keeffe’s longstanding mark. All eyes will surely be on the infield when this event opens Sunday's programme.
Women’s 200m: The half lap to heaven
The women’s half-lap contest is another potentially spicy match-up, particularly if defending champion Sharlene Mawdsley, who is also entered for the 400m, chooses to compete.
Rhasidat Adeleke is coming here to secure an individual spot at the European Championships, her only remaining route, the 22.85 automatic standard which she missed by 0.01 seconds in April.
The Tallaght woman is well capable of that sort of time, her national record standing at 22.34. Her quest would be greatly aided by a following wind, but anything faster than +2.0m/s would invalidate times for qualification purposes. For that reason, there is a possibility that she chases it in both the heats and the final.
Lauren Roy is an athlete who has secured the qualification standard, running 22.83 in late May. This fastest Irish woman this year, over both 100m and 200m, be using this weekend to tune up for Birmingham.
Mawdsley has been in breathtaking form this season, running a personal best of 23.09 (-0.1) in her only outing over this distance in May, and recording the six fastest times of her career in her six outings over 400m.
Mawdsley is the defending champion. Adeleke has never won this title. Roy, third last year, is seeking her first national senior title at any distance.
Men’s and Women’s 400m Hurdles: events on the rise
Emerging from the ashes of Tom Barr’s retirement last year is a multitude of talent over the one-lap hurdles event. The men have been receiving much of the attention, with Donegal bothers Ethan and Fintan Dewhirst and Dublin man Des O’Neill all shooting up the all-time lists, but the strength-in-depth in the women’s event has never been stronger.
O’Neill and Ethan Dewhirst will be heading Eugene for the World U20 Championships in early August, the latter choosing to skip this event. However, O’Neill, who got the better of the younger Dewhirst at the National U20 Championships last year, may well be looking to cause another upset here.
Fintan, meanwhile, may well be looking to regain the fastest-in-the-family title, with the bigger aim of becoming only the third Irish man to break 50 seconds for the event. Adam Courtney, with a best of 52.87, could also be in the mix.
The event was won in 54.87 last year. Expect this one to be much faster.
Five Irish women have broken 59 seconds in this event in 2026, and all five are entered here. Arlene Crossan, who broke into the Irish consciousness at the World Relays in May, is the fastest in the field with a best of 57.95, and will start as favourite.
Those chasing her down, however, will be the defending champion Cara Murphy, who recently improved to 58.54, last year’s fastest Irish woman Victoria Amiadamen (58.56), and the under-20 duo of Elle-Kate McRae (58.61) and Ellis McHugh (58.96), who have both bettered the national U20 record this year. Jennifer Sawyer, the 2024 champion, is also in the field.
Men’s 1500m: Who dares call this one?
No matter the level, the men’s 1500m is always an exciting championship event, but the growing rivalry between Coscoran and Cathal Doyle, with Nick Griggs thrown in for good measure, makes this one of the events to watch when Irish athletes are involved.
Doyle and Coscoran were the protagonists in two of the fiercest middle distance head-to-heads in recent Morton Stadium history, with Coscoran coming out on top of the 2021 Morton Mile, and Doyle getting the upper hand, just, in last year’s national title decider.
Coscoran was trying to complete the near-impossible 1500m-5000m double last year, but is focusing all his energy this year on regaining the 1500m title he won in 2021, and preventing Doyle from winning five in a row.
Griggs won his first National Senior title over 3000m indoors earlier this year. If he were to win here, it would be an upset, not because he doesn’t have the ability, but because he is focusing on the 5000m this summer, the distance he will race at the Commonwealth Games next weekend.
Making it out of the heats was a challenge last year, such is the depth in this event in Ireland at the moment. There are definitely athletes missing this year, but among the other contenders are 3:35 athlete James Dunne; Ronan McMahon-Staggs, who has a mile best of 3:51.85; Callum Morgan, who, like Griggs, will be contesting the 5000m in Glasgow next weekend; breakthrough athlete of the year Liam Lyons; and Niall Murphy, fresh from his impressive run over 3000m in Cork a few weeks ago.
The men’s 1500m is the last individual track event of the programme. And for good reason. Three-and-three-quarter laps of pure excitement await.
Elsewhere: Birmingham possibilities
For a small number of athletes, Birmingham spots are still possible. In addition to Ndudi, Callaghan, Adeleke, Nicholson, Maher and McCann mentioned above, Sophie Becker (400m), Abbie Sheridan (3000m steeplechase), Ciara Neville (100m), Jack Raftery (400m), Emma Moore (800m), and Anna Gavigan (Discus) will be among those looking to maintain or achieve a quota spot, and, in Gavigan’s case, hit the B standard.
Becker and Sheridan are currently just inside the quota cut-offs in their respective events, and strong performances over the weekend should solidify their positions. However, with almost every other European country also holding their national championships this weekend, the target points are likely to increase for everyone.
Some will be depending on withdrawals of other athletes to make it to Birmingham, and anxious times await all those who have secured automatic qualification standards.
The Road to Birmingham rankings will be updated on Monday. National teams then have until Wednesday to declare which athletes they wish to enter and which athletes they would be willing to accept entries for. European Athletics will publish the final list of athletes eligible for entry on Thursday.
