Diamond League season approaching conclusion; another busy day for the Irish in Belgium
Elizabeth Egan | Aug 15, 2025
The week got off to a good start, with Mark English breaking the 800m National Record in Budapest on Tuesday, while Darragh McElhinney moved to 5th on the Irish all-time list for 3000m at the same meeting.
The final dash for world ranking points and qualification spots is heating up, with just 10 days to grab one of those quota spots (or, hang on to one, depending on your point of view) or post an automatic qualification spot.
Those who have long had the qualification standards, but who’ve raced sparingly, will be looking for competition sharpness over the coming weeks.
And with relay spots on the line, Irish 400m athletes will be looking to prove their fitness over the coming days.
Diamond League
Sarah Healy has finished in the top three in four of her five Diamond League appearances so far this year, and she’ll again be looking for a confidence-boosting run at the Silesia Diamond League on Saturday.
An Irish record time would do that nicely, but racing well against some of her rivals for Tokyo glory may be more important as she targets her first global outdoor final.
The event will be shown live on Virgin Media Two and Virgin Media Play from 3-5pm.
CITIUS meeting
Sarah Lavin will race the 100m hurdles at the CITIUS meeting in Bern, Switzerland (Continental Tour Silver) on Saturday. 12.88 or faster would wrap up European Championship qualifiication for next year, and that's at least the sort of time Sarah will be looking to better as she builds towards Tokyo.
European Athletics will be streaming the event on their website from 4pm.
Belgian encore
Continental Tour meetings in Belgium have provided many breakthrough performances for Irish athletes over the year. And some will be hoping that Leuven, which hosts Meeting voor Mon on Saturday, will too see breakthrough performances for them.
The men’s 400m entries include Jack Raftery, Cillín Greene, Chris O'Donnell, Joe Doody, Callum Baird and Andrew Egan, while Aaron Keane is entered in the 200m and 300m.
The women’s 400m entries include Lauren Cadden, Arlene Crossan and Cliodhna Manning, though Cadden is also entered for Stratford on Sunday.
Laura Nicholson is currently just a few points short of a quota spot for Tokyo in the 1500m. A top-three finish in 4:08 or faster, may be good enough to see her to her first major senior championships.
Nick Griggs is entered for the 1500m, where running sub 3:33.00 and bagging the Auto Q appears to be his only remaining opportunities to make Tokyo this year (unless he can get added to the Lausanne Diamond League 5000m). The Auto Q for Birmingham next year is 3:33.50.
Shane Bracken, Seán Donoghue and Philip Marron look to continue their strong seasons, also over 1500m. Callum Morgan, fresh from a 13:23.37 PB over 5000m is also entered for the 1500m, where he could become the 14th Irish man to run sub-3:40 this season.
Others looking for a dream climax to their season include Robert McDonnell (200m), Emma Moore (800m) and David Cussen (High Jump).
There is a free livestream which starts at 2pm.
Stratford speed
A number of Irish athletes are entered for the penultimate Stratford Speed meeting of the year, though it’s likely that not all will race.
While all of Ireland’s top 400m men will be in Belgium on Saturday, it appears that the female battle for possible Tokyo relay spots is split between there and east London. Kelly McGrory, who opened her season in Oordegem last week, the ever-improving Kate Doherty, and the aforementioned Lauren Cadden are among the entries.
Bori Akinola, Marcus Lawler, Paul Costelloe, Michael Farrelly, Sean Aigboboh, Molly Scott, Ciara Neville, Sarah Leahy, Ruby Millet and Orla Comerford are among the entries over the shorter distances.
There will be a free livestream.
Elsewhere
Phil Healy (400m), Michael Healy (Discus) and Seán Mockler (Hammer) are among the entries for the Leevale Open Sports on Sunday.
Barry Keane is among the entries for the Falmouth Road Race (7 miles) on Sunday.
