Emma Moore

Diamond League and Continental Tour meetings, NCAA regional qualifiers, All-Ireland schools championships, and the National Half Marathon Championships are just some of the places to spot Irish athletes this weekend.

Mark English will look to continue his winning ways as Andrew Coscoran opens his outdoor season at the Rabat Diamond League. Cathal Doyle, making his return after injury, and Nick Griggs, will race at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Bydgoszcz.

Sophie O’Sullivan, Darragh McElhinney, Jodie McCann, Laura Nicholson and John Kelly are on the startlist for the Trond Mohn Games in Bergin. Lauren Callaghan takes her fine recent form to Cyprus, and Emma Moore is due to compete in Forbach, France.

Alex O'Neill, Danielle Donegan, Andrew Thompson and Eric Favors are among those on Continental Tour Challenger startlists.

NCAA Division I athletes will continue their endeavour of making it to Eugene for the national finals, while several Irish athletes will look for fast times at the British Milers Club Grand Prix in Birmingham.

Future stars will be on display at the All-Ireland Schools Championships in Tullamore and the National Half Marathon titles will be decided in Cork

Diamond League

The Rabat Diamond League, live on Virgin Media Three from 7-9pm on Sunday, will round out the weekend’s action. Among the entries are Mark English, who two weeks ago became the first Irish man ever to win a Diamond discipline at a Diamond League meeting.

Among English’s opposition in the Moroccan capital will be 1.41 men Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Gabriel Tual, as well as four other athletes with personal bests faster than his. A second win would be a massive ask, but a solid pace could drag English into new territory time wise.

Coscoran has not raced since the World Indoors in March, where he focused on the 3000m. Here he’ll face seven sub-3:30 men, over 1500m, including the World Champion Isaac Nader, a somewhat surprise winner of a race in which Coscoran finished 12th.

The Star of the Sea A.C. athlete twice broke the national indoor record earlier this year. Could 2026 be the year he finally breaks the 3:30 mark outdoors?

Continental Tour Gold

Cathal Doyle will make his much-anticipated return to competition over 1500m at the Irena Szewińska Memorial, a Continental Tour Gold meeting, in Bydgoszcz on Friday, having struggled with injury over the winter months.

Among his opposition will be Nick Griggs, who suffered a somewhat unexpected defeat over the mile at the British Milers Club meeting in Belfast last weekend.

Continental Tour Silver

Irish interest at the Trond Mohn Games in Bergen includes Sophie O’Sullivan, Darragh McElhinney, Jodie McCann, Laura Nicholson and John Kelly.

McElhinney, who already has the Birmingham standard over 5000m and Sophie O’Sullivan, who has secured the 1500m standard, will be chasing some speed as they step down to 1500m and 800m respectively.

Unlike O’Sullivan, Jodie McCann and Laura Nicholson are still chasing the Athletics Ireland B standard, and valuable ranking points, in the 1500m. Both raced in Germany on Sunday, but a slow, tactical race meant they were unable to capitalise on the opportunity to race at this level.

John Kelly, former Irish shot put record holder, is looking to get back to the sort of form that took him beyond 20 metres in 2022. His best so far this season was the 18.19 he threw to win silver at the National Indoor Championships in March.

Continental Tour Bronze

Emma Moore made big strides during the indoor season, smashing her previous best over 800m. With European Championship qualification in mind, Forbach appears to be the first outdoor stop on the Road to Birmingham. Moore will be looking to improve her PB  to at least 2:00.95, the Athletics Ireland B standard for Birmingham, in the coming weeks.

While still early days, Lauren Callaghan is just a couple of spots outside the long jump quota for Birmingham. She opened her outdoor campaign with a fine 6.42 in Loughborough a fortnight ago, and will look to collect some of the valuable placing points on offer in Cyprus on Friday. She is also chasing the Athletics Ireland B standard of 6.55 metres.

Continental Tour Challenger

Some of the races at Saturday’s British Milers Club Grand Prix at the University of Birmingham hold Continental Tour Challenger (category D status), while others have gathered strong fields chasing fast times.

The women’s 5000m is particularly strong from an Irish perspective with Emily Haggard-Kearney, one of the silver-medal winning Irish team from last weekend’s European 10,000m Cup, is on the startlist alongside Danielle Donegan, Ella Fennelly, who last weekend ran 15:50.65, and others.

Callum Morgan, Louis O’Loughlin and Philip Marron are due to contest the men’s 1500m; Eimear Maher, Zoe Toland and Niamh Carr are in the women’s 1500m, and Finley Daly and Abbie Sheridan will contest their respective steeplechases.

Alex O'Neill (800m) and Donegan (5000m) are both entered for the Puma Notro Lange Laufnacht, though the latter is also entered for the BMC meeting mentioned above.

O’Neill got her outdoor campaign underway in Germany on Sunday, and will be looking to continue her push towards European Championship qualification.

Eric Favors, sitting comfortably in a Birmingham quota spot, is among the shot put entries for the Music City Track Carnival in Cleveland, TN.

Andrew Thompson will continue his quest for the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games consideration standard at the Triveneto Meeting Internazionale in Trieste on Saturday. Thompson did better the required 1:46.70 mark late last summer, but not in a race listed on the World Athletics calendar.

Aaron Keane is entered for the 200m at the Meeting National de Seine et Marne in France on Friday. The Tullamore Harrier has a best of 21.45 for the distance from last August.

Domestic action

The National Half Marathon Championships take place as part of the Cork Marathon on Sunday, where John Travers, Ryan Creech and Hannah Steed are among the leading entrants.

Before that, some of the future stars of Irish athletics will compete for All-Ireland schools titles in Tullamore. Among the names to look out for in the senior events there are national indoor pole vault champions Mikey Kent (who will also contest the Long Jump) and Meabh Corkery, and throwers Theo Hanlon (Shot Put) and Thomas Williams (Hammer).

Erin Friel, who recently made her senior debut at the world relays, will contest the 400m. National U20 400m hurdles record holder Ellis McHugh is due to compete in both the 400m hurdles, and the sprint hurdles where she will face national lead Orlaith Mannion. European Cross Country medallist Emma Hickey will race the 3000m, while Tara O’Connor is one of the names to look out for in the High Jump.

NCAA Division I Regional Qualifiers

More than two dozen Irish athletes will be competing in the Regional rounds of the NCAA Div I Championships this week. Action in Lexington, KY (East) and Fayetteville, AR (West) got underway on Thursday, with Sean Aigboboh, who has qualified for the next round of the 200m, the best of the Irish performances so far.

Aigboboh, along with Lauren Roy (100m, 200m), Lucy-May Sleeman (100m), Maeve O’Neill (800m), Oisin Spillane (3000m Steeplechase), Siún Quinn (High Jump) and Elizabeth Ndudi (Long Jump), are just some of the athletes to watch out for as they endeavour to qualify for the national finals in Eugene, OR next month.

Performances this weekend are likely to have a big impact on the Road to Birmingham rankings. Check out TrackAthletes.ie for all the relevant updates over the coming days.

A strong Irish contingent will take on the European 10,000m Cup in Italy this weekend, dozens will flock to Brussels for the two-day IFAM Continental Tour Bronze meeting, others will take part in continental tour meetings in the USA, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.

There is a strong entry for the Leinster Senior, Masters and U20 Championships, as well as the British Milers Club Meeting in Belfast. Dundrum South Dublin will compete in both the men’s and the women’s competitions at the European Champion Clubs Cup in Spain.

And there is Irish interest on the final day of the NAIA Championships in the US, at the World Race Walking Tour Gold meeting in Spain and at least three meetings across the spring bank holiday weekend in England.

European 10,000m Cup

The 2025 edition of this annual continental event was a memorable one as Efrem Gidey cruised to the men’s title, and in doing so won Ireland’s first European 10,000m Cup medal.

Efrem won’t be back to defend his title, but a number of individuals within the squad will be chasing qualification for this summer’s European Championships in Birmingham, as well as having team aspirations.

The women’s team looks particularly strong, with Niamh Allen and Fiona Everard looking to convert the form they’ve shown on the roads and the cross country already this year, to the 25-lap track event. Emily Haggard-Kearney and Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill add further firepower. Patricia Jackman and Faye Dervan complete the team.

Allen finished 21st at the World Cross Country in January, and has been setting course records on the roads of Cork, and beyond, in recent weeks. This will be her first 10,000m race on the track, but fine runs over 3000m and 5000m last summer suggest that her talents aren’t confined to the roads and the country.

Everard was the first woman home at the 10km de Saint Medard en Jalles in France at the end of March. Her winning time there was 31:58, faster than the Auto Q for Birmingham, but while times for road races can count, for women they must be set in women’s only races.

Haggard-Kearney, with an official best of 32:51 on the roads (she ran 32:01 at the Trafford 10km, an event not listed on the World Athletics Calendar, earlier this year), and Nic Dhomhnaill, who ran 32:24 at the Valencia 10km in January, also have the potential to set new marks on the track, and contend for a spot in Birmingham.

Callum Morgan, already an established underage international, will be racing his first 10,000m, after breaking the Northern Irish 10km record with 28:08 in Valencia. Morgan has already secured the Northern Ireland 5000m consideration standard for the Commonwealth Games, but his presence at this event suggests that he also has at least one eye on Birmingham too.

Oisín Ó Gailín made his Irish senior debut at this event last year, where he finished 7th in the B Final (29:02.05). Michael Murphy and Jamie Battle, both making their Irish senior debuts, complete the team

Any athlete who doesn’t hit the qualification standard (auto Q), could still make the Birmingham team by ranking. To do so, they would need to hit the Athletics Ireland B standard (28:30 for men; 32:55 for women) and have a ranking, based on their best two performances, at least one of which needs to be run on the track, during the qualification window.

European U23 champion Anika Thompson is currently the only Irish woman on the road to Birmingham list for 10,000m. She is ranked 43rd, with 27 spots available, but has secured the B standard. The battle for places on the men’s side is likely to be fierce. Gidey already has the Auto standard, as does Jack O’Leary. Four others have achieved the B standard.

IFAM: Brussels Bonanza

There are just over 100 Irish athletes on the entry list for the 2-day IFAM meeting in Brussels (Continental Tour Bronze). Among them are Sharlene Mawdsley, entered for both the 200m and 400m, Sophie Becker (400m), Irish U23 steeplechase record holder Ava O’Connor, Luke McCann continuing his injury return over 800m, and Arlene Crossan, who will look to bring her recent relay form to the 400m Hurdles.

IFAM is often a breakthrough meeting for many athletes, and among the emerging athlete names to look out for are Craig Duffy, who was in flying form at the IUAA Championships last month, Erin Friel (200m, 400m), Niall Murphy (5000m) and Abbie Sheridan (3000m steeplechase).

Other European meetings

If the number of Irish competitors in Brussels looks a little lower than last year, that may well be because a number of athletes are competing elsewhere over the weekend, including at other Continental Tour meetings.

Biggest of these is the Internationales Pfingstsportfest Rehlingen, a Continental Tour Silver meeting in Germany on Sunday. Jodie McCann, Eimear Maher and Laura Nicholson are all in the 1500m field, and they will be looking for a fast time and big ranking points towards European Championship qualification.

With PBs in the 4:07-4:08 range, all three are within touch of the Athletics Ireland B standard of 4:07.00 for Birmingham, the minimum required for selection. Nicholson is currently within quota on ranking, but lots will change over the coming weeks.

Alex O’Neill, another with Birmingham aspirations is on the 800m startlist and Mark Smyth has been added to the 100m field.

Andrew Egan (200m) and Conor Cusack (Javelin) are among the entries of the Pfingstmeeting (CT Challenger) in Switzerland on Saturday. Irish Half Marathon record holder Fearghal Curtin is entered for the Spåret 5000m (CT Challenger) in Sweden on Saturday. His best for the distance is 13:34.44 from 2023. Niamh Fogarty, Irish Discus record holder, will compete at the Sæby Wind Challenge (Cat F) in Denmark.

Oisin Lane and Aisling Lane are both on the 10km startlists for the Gran Premio Internacional de Marche Cantones de A Coruña in Spain on Saturday.

Ireland will be represented by DSD in both the men’s and women’s section of the European Champion Clubs Cup in Castellón, Spain. Among the star performers named in their team are Mollie O’Reilly (100m), Ciarán Carthy (400m), Amy O’Donoghue (800m), Paul O’Donnell (3000m), Megan Ryan (5000m), and Kate Doherty (400m Hurdles).

Closer to home

Nick Griggs (Mile) is the star name on the Belfast BMC startlist. It was at this event last year Griggs made his return from injury, running 3:55.97 in wet conditions. His best for the distance is 3:52.42 from Morton Games last July.

There are plenty of other names to look out for, including Ava O’Connor and Zoe Toland in the women’s mile, and Pia Langton and Emma Moore, who’ll be looking to continue their strong starts to 2026 in the women’s 800m.

Oisín Lynch, Callum Hurley and Robert Hewison are among a particularly strong men’s 800m lineup, while Louis O’Loughlin, Amy Greene and Roise Roberts are expected to race over 3000m.

There is lots of talent to watch out for at the Leinster Senior Championships in Carlow (SETU), particularly in the men’s sprints, men’s walk, and the field events.

Max O’Reilly, Adam Murphy, Mark Smyth and Marcus Lawler could face off over 200m, though Symth, as mentioned above, is now on the Rehlingen startlist. O’Reilly and sprint hurdler Adam Nolan are also entered in the shorter sprint.

Matthew Callinan Keenan (Pole Vault), Sam Healy (Long Jump), Saragh Buggy (Long Jump and Triple Jump), Sophie Meredith (Long Jump) and Eoin Sheridan (Discus Throw) are among those to watch out for in the field.

Matthew Glennon, Joe Mooney and David Kenny are all entered in the 5000m walk while Cliodhna Manning is down for the 100m and 200m.

Across the Atlantic

Irish 100m record-holder Israel Olatunde is on the startlist for both the 100m and 200m at the PURE Athletics Spring Invitational in Clermont, FL (Cat F), where Shane Howard is due to contest the Long Jump. Eric Favors will compete at the Throws U Series #3 event in Fleetwood.

Maddie Mooney (800m), James Dunne and Ronan McMahon-Staggs (both 1500m) and Roisin Flanagan (5000m) are on the startlist for the LA Track Festival, while Rory Devaney (Hammer) and Kate Joyce (Javelin) will compete at the Tucson Elite Throws (CT Silver) meeting on Saturday. Both meetings hold Continental Tour silver status.

There will also be Irish interest on the final day of the NAIA Championship on Friday. After cruising through Thursday’s heats, Nathan Cremin will race in the 800m final. Heather Murphy, who won the 10,000m title on Thursday is also entered for Friday’s 5000m final, though weather delays earlier in the week means she has had a day less than scheduled to recover.

Elsewhere, Charlie O’Donovan, fresh off his Penn Relays win, is the fastest entry for the mile at the Down the Stretch Track Fest (Cat F).

Looking ahead to midweek, 23 Irish athletes in individual events, plus two others named on relay squads, are declared for the preliminary rounds of the NCAA Division I Championships, which will start on Wednesday in Lexington, KY (East Regionals) and Fayetteville, AR (West Regionals). The top 12 athletes in each region will qualify for the National finals in Eugene in early June.

And in the UK

Mikey Kent (Long Jump) and Theo Hanlon (Shot Put), who both broke Leinster Schools championship records during the week, are entered for the BIGish Jumps and throws Fest in Bedford on Monday, along with Daena Kealy who made an impressive return to high jump action last Sunday and Cian Crampton (Discus), who missed the spring with a foot injury.

The popular Stratford Speed meetings in London have a reputation for producing fast times, and among the Irish athletes looking to impress at the first of this year’s series are Bori Akinola (100m, 200m), Paul Costelloe (100m, 200m), Michael Farrelly (100m), Ciara Neville (100m), Aisling Kelly (100m, 200m), Katie Bergin (100m), Sophie Becker (200m) and Hugo Magee (200m, 400m).

A small number of Irish athletes are also entered for the Comeback 5000m in London on Saturday.

Diamond in the rough

Finally, the second round of the 2026 Diamond League will take place in Xiamen, China, on Saturday. There are no Irish competitors, but plenty to interest athletics fans. The event will be shown live on Virgin Media Two from 12:00-14:00.

An eleven-strong Irish team will travel to the twenty-second edition of the World Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, this weekend, with serious medal aspirations.

Kate O’Connor, who won silver in the Pentathlon last time out, will look to at least emulate that performance, but others, too, have outside medal chances.

Below are mini-profiles of each of the Irish athletes participating, with details on their current form, Road to Toruń journey, and what they may need to do to qualify for this summer's major championships.

All sessions of the World Indoor Championships will be shown live on Virgin Media. The broadcast schedule, links to startlists and live results, and an Irish-specific timetable can be found on TrackAthletes.ie.

A few Irish athletes will open their outdoor season at collegiate events in the US this weekend. Meetings with Irish interest will be added to the TrackAthletes calendar page as startlists become available.

Lauren Roy

Lauren Roy (women's 60m) comes into the World Indoors in the form of her life, having run 7.19 for 60m (=2nd Irish all-time), the distance she will race this weekend, and 22.89 (2nd Irish all-time) over 200m already this year.

Roy surpassed the Athletics Ireland B standard for Toruń when she ran 7.25 on 17 January, a time that would ultimately have been good enough to make the cutoff, but she ensured her selection when she bettered the 7.20 automatic standard in Spokane on 27 February.

Roy was a member of the Irish 4x100m team that broke the national 4x100m relay record at the Diamond League meeting in London last July. She was also part of the relay team at the 2022 World Championship in Eugene, and was on the squad that won 4x100m relay silver at the 2018 World U20 Championship.

Roy competed at the European Indoor Championship in Glasgow in 2019 (also over 60m), has twice represented Ireland at the European Team Championships, and went close to making the 200m final at last summer’s FISU World University Games.

She has already surpassed the 200m Athletics Ireland B standard for this summer’s European Championships and is close to the automatic qualification standard of 22.85. She will also look to make the Northern Ireland team for the Commonwealth Games this summer.

Ciara Neville

Ciara Neville (women's 60m) bridges a five-year gap when she returns to Toruń, the site of her last major championships – the European Indoors – in 2021. She went close to making the Olympics later that year and, in the process, suffered a serious hamstring injury that later required surgery.

It’s taken Neville a long time to return to the form of 2021, and to build on the promise shown when she made the World Indoor Championships in 2017 as a 17-year old, and as a member of the silver-medal-winning 4x100m team at the 2018 World U20 Championships.

But the reigning National 60m and 100m champion will go into Saturday morning’s 60m heats off the back of an incredibly consistent indoor season. She improved her nine-year-old 7.30 personal best to 7.28, then 7.27, then 7.26 this year, and equalled or surpassed the 7.30 Athletics Ireland B standard on five occasions. Indeed, the 7.35 she ran in the heats of the National Indoors is the slowest she’s gone all season.

Neville’s indoor runs – two of which can count for 100m ranking purposes – together with her National senior win last August, give her a good start on the Road to Birmingham. She will next need to run the Athletics Ireland B standard of 11.35 or quicker and be ranked within the top 36 in Europe to make that team. A run of 11.18, the Automatic standard, or faster would all but guarantee selection.

Bori Akinola

Bori Akinola (men's 60m) is the reigning National 100m and National Indoor 60m Champion, as well as the national 60m record holder.

Akinola was undefeated in his six races in January, including World Indoor Tour wins in Lyon and Glasgow. In February, he added the national record (6.54) and a second-place finish at the World Indoor Tour gold meeting in Belgrade, before retaining his national title and finishing third at the World Indoor Tour silver meeting in Berlin earlier this month.

He was a member of the Irish 4x100m relay team that broke a 25-year-old national record last summer, but a niggle in warm-up meant that he missed out when the team further upgraded the mark a week later.

Having competed with the relay team at the European Championships in Rome in 2024, Akinola made his individual debut in the 60m at the European Indoors in Apeldoorn last year, where he finished 11th overall.

The UCD AC athlete already has the Athletics Ireland B standard for the European Championships over 100m, and his performances in Belgrade and Berlin give him a healthy foundation on which to build his ranking points. He currently sits 16th on the Road to Birmingham, and a final position within the top 36 would likely see him selected. The relay team, currently ranked ninth, also looks likely to qualify.

Mark English

Mark English (men's 800m) started the year with a new national 600m record, and followed it shortly after with two new marks over 800m. He hasn’t, however, raced since finishing third and breaking the national record in the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava on 3 February, having sat out the National Indoors with a niggle.

English has a stunning record at European level, adding indoor bronze in 2025 to the medals he won in 2019 (bronze) and 2015 (silver), and the bronze medals he won outdoors in 2022 and 2014. He has yet to make a global final indoors or out.

English bagged the Auto Q for Toruń in his first 800m of the season in Luxembourg on 18 January, and has had the qualification standard for the European Championships since 12 August last year. Not having to chase times or ranking points affords English the chance to arrive at the main events ready to contend.

English is ranked fifth in the field based on personal bests, and in the absence of World Record holder Josh Hoey, will be looking to finally make his mark on the world stage.

Maeve O’Neill

Maeve O’Neill (women's 800m) has been in scintillating form all winter, running 1:28.09 for 600m in early December, and 2:41.07 for 1,000m in early January before running 2:01.96 for 800m, an outright PB, in late January. She further improved her 800m PB - and the national indoor record -with 2:00.33 on 22 February.

Toruń will be the senior international debut for the Cork athlete, who this past weekend just missed out on the final of the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships. O’Neill won bronze at the Irish National Senior Championships last summer, but her 2026 performances to date have elevated her to the top echelon of Irish 800m running.

O’Neill has the Athletics Ireland B standard secured for this summer’s European Championships and will spend the coming months collecting ranking points and/or chasing the 1:59.80 Automatic qualification standard alongside her college racing commitments in the US. Sub-2 will, no doubt, also be on her mind.

Emma Moore

Emma Moore (women's 800m) will be making her senior international debut in Toruń after starting the season with a bang. She solo ran a 2:02.39 in Abbotstown on 17 December and looked at home when racing her first World Indoor tour meeting in Luxembourg a month later.

Moore secured the Athletics Ireland B standard for Toruń and further lowered her personal best and broke the National U23 record (since lowered by O’Neill) when she ran 2:01.21 at the NIA on 28 January, and got a taste of World Indoor Tour Gold racing in Ostrava a week later.

The Galway native will need to run 2:00.95 (the Athletics Ireland B standard) or faster to qualify for this summer’s European Championships in Birmingham, something that looks well within her capabilities based on early-season form, as well as gain enough ranking points to be within the quota spots. Her runs from Ostrava and Luxembourg will have helped greatly on that front.

Achieving the 1:59.80 automatic qualifier would, of course, negate the need for ranking points, though given the depth of middle-distance talent in Ireland, there may well be more than three athletes in contention for the spots come August. An exciting summer lies ahead.

James Gormley

James Gormley (men's 1500m) transferred allegiance to Ireland in 2024, having previously represented Great Britain at junior level, and made the Irish team over 3000m for both European Indoors and World Indoors in 2025.

This time round, he races the 1500m, having secured the Athletics Ireland B standard for that event, en route to the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games consideration standard for the mile, in Boston in February. The time he ran that day - 3:53.38 – places him inside the top 10 on the Irish all-time list indoors.

With the Commonwealth Games mark secured for both 1500m and 5000m, Gormley may turn his attention to making the team for the European Championships, where places in both distances will be hotly contested.

The respective Athletics Ireland B standards for Birmingham are 3:35.25  and 13:20.00, but faster may well be needed to make the team. Gormley’s bests are 3:36.25 from 2024 and 13:26.24 indoors earlier this year, but if his indoor form is anything to go by, then improving them should be a formality.

Andrew Coscoran

By 8 February, Andrew Coscoran (men's 3000m) had already run a 3000m, a mile and a 1500m split that were second only, in terms of Irish all-time performances indoors, to his own national records. He later upgraded the Irish 1500m record, with 3:33.09 and third place in Liévin.

Coscoran achieved the automatic standard for the 1500m and the 3000m in Toruń, and contested both distances at last year’s World Indoors. However, after getting the nod from the selectors, he has opted to contest just the longer distance this time.

He is ranked third in the World this year, and second in the entered field based on season’s bests, though canny racers Josh Kerr, Cole Hocker and Geordie Beamish are also in the field. Concoran will be looking to improve on his sixth place from last year, but such is the quality of the field that he could run the race of his life and leave with nothing.

Despite making the World 1500m final in September, Coscoran had to wait until 19 February to secure his first Auto Q for this summer’s European Championships. He competed in both the 1500m and the 5000m in Tokyo, and may again seek qualification over the longer distance.

His 3000m performance from January and his national 5000m win last August give him a head start on the Road to Birmingham, but the Athletics Ireland B standard of 13:20 will also need to be achieved if he has any chance of earning one of the three hotly-contested spots available.

Nick Griggs

This winter, Nick Griggs (men's 3000m) achieved two things that had, to that point, remained elusive, as he took his first European individual cross country title in December and won his first national senior title earlier this month. The world now, it seems, is his oyster.

He will, however, face formidable opposition if he is to go anywhere near adding his first senior international medal in Toruń, as he lines up for what must be one of the deepest 3000m fields in World Indoor history.

Griggs achieved the automatic standard for Toruń when finishing fourth behind Coscoran in Boston in January, and he secured his spot when winning the national title on 1 March. The time he ran in Boston - 7:32.79 - was a new national U23 record and moved him to second on the Irish all-time list.

Griggs has competed for Ireland at two senior championships before now – both outdoors and both over 1500m. He’ll be looking to make his first Indoor major a memorable one.

He has the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games consideration standard for both the mile and the 5000m, and the automatic standard for the European Championships over the longer distance.

Sarah Lavin

Sarah Lavin (60m hurdles) travels to Toruń off the back of an eighth National Indoor title. She achieved the automatic standard in her first outing of the year with the 7.98 she ran when finishing second in Paris on 25th January. This is still her fastest race of the season, but if anyone knows how to show up in form for a championship, it’s Lavin.

She is a permanent fixture in the Irish team these days, and has competed at every major championship, indoors and out, since 2021 (two Olympics, three World Championships, two European Championships, three European Indoor Championships and, after this weekend, four World Indoor Championships).

She finished fourth at the European Indoors last March and was fifth at the World Indoors in 2024. She’d desperately love to turn her consistency into silverware. The national indoor record, too, must surely one day be hers.

Lavin secured the European Championship standard at the World Championships last summer. Her performances with the record-breaking 4x100m relay team have put them in with a good chance of also qualifying for Birmingham.

Kate O’Connor

Kate O'Connor barely needs an introduction these days. Having won medals at the European Indoors, World Indoors, World University Games and World Championships in 2025, as well as adding big chunks to her national Pentathlon and national Heptathlon records, she carries medal expectations into Sunday’s event.

The Louth athlete started her year with personal bests in the two events she’s competed in thus far. She won the National Indoor long jump title with a first-round jump of 6.50m, a performance which places her third on the Irish all-time list, and gave Sarah Lavin a closer run than she’s used to in the national 60m hurdles title race.

O’Connor has already secured the Northern Ireland consideration standard for the Commonwealth Games and the Automatic Standard for the European Championships. The heptathlon at the later starts just 16 days after the heptathlon finishes, but with both events taking place in the UK, it may be an easier back-to-back challenge than on other occasions.

Before then, however, there’s a World Indoor title on the line. Anna Hall, the World Heptathlon champion, will start as favourite, but O’Connor, obviously in the form of her life, looks set to challenge. Just how much can she add to her Irish record – which currently stands at 4781 – in the process?