Joe Doody U23

With just ten days – at the time of writing – left in the European Championships qualification window, and just over three weeks until the Championships themselves kick off, there’s a sense of urgency, and importance, surrounding this weekend’s events.

Some athletes will be making a last-ditch attempt to qualify – standards and ranking points foremost in their minds -  while medal hopefuls and potential finalists will be looking to build form ahead. The sprint relay squads, both of whom have two runouts in the coming days may even have national records on their minds.

The London Diamond League is the main event, but a pair of Continental Tour meetings on Thursday evening provide important opportunities for Irish athletes. Younger athletes will be competing at the European U18 Championships in Reiti, while domestic action includes the National 10 Mile and the AAI Games.

Teamwork Thursday

Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern, a Continental Tour Silver meeting, has a very large Irish contingent, with a mix of hopes and dreams for the evening.

Among them are both men’s and women’s 4x100m relays teams, who will face stiff opposition ahead of next month’s European Championships. The men’s team – named on the startlist as Max O'Reilly, Sean Aigboboh, Mark Smyth and Bori Akinola – currently sit in 9th on the Road to Birmingham, and with 16 teams to qualify, are all but ensured their spot in Birmingham.

The women’s team is less secure in terms of Birmingham qualification. They are currently sitting in 15th place, and will be hoping that Slovenia and Sweden don’t both pull out massive performances. The team of Lucy-May Sleeman, Lauren Roy, Sarah Leahy and Precious Akpe-Moses may have their own time-targets in mind: the 43.73 national record set last year well within their grasp.

All but Aigboboh, who has already secured the Birmingham auto Q in the 200m, will also be in action in individual events. Akinola, who has twice run 10.19 this season, looks to be secure within the 100m quota, but will want to run faster again ahead of championship season. Roy, too, has the 200m standard, and is ranked 35th in the 100m, with 36 spots available.

Sleeman, who has been in flying form in the US this summer, desperately needs to bag some of the placing points on offer here and put in a good performance at next week’s national championships, if she is to have any chance of catapulting herself into a quota spot.

None of the other relay athletes have the athletics Ireland B standard or are close enough to quota for an individual spot to be a realistic target at this point. However, there are two other sprinters to watch out for.

Rhasidat Adeleke has yet to secure an individual spot for Birmingham. She just missed the 200m Auto Q (22.85) when she ran 22.86 in Texas in April. She’ll race that distance in Luzern, before – it is rumoured – she races over 400m at the weekend.

Benjamin Richardson, the former South African representative who will be eligible to compete for Ireland from August 2027, will compete in both the 100m and 200m.

Elizabeth Ndudi and Lauren Callaghan both have a chance to make the Long Jump cutoff for Birmingham. Callaghan is just outside the quota spots and still needs to surpass the Athletics Ireland B standard of 6.55, a mark she just missed by 4cm last week.

Ndudi hit the B standard when she broke the national indoor record earlier in the year but, like Sleeman, is desperately short on ranking points. A podium finish here would do her qualification quest the world of good.

Emma Moore is currently just one spot outside quota for the 800m, and has the opportunity to leap up the rankings with a good run here. She will be joined by Alex O’Neill, who is outside the quota spots, but has the opportunity to considerably improve her ranking over the next 10 days. She does, however, also need to hit the 2:00.95 Athletics Ireland B standard.

Callum Morgan will get a run out over 3000m ahead of the Commonwealth Games where he will run the 5000m. Conor Cusack has a breakthrough performance at this event in 2025 when he threw beyond 75 metres for the first time. The Athletics Ireland B standard for Birmingham is 79.00.

And it isn’t all about the action in Switzerland on Thursday. Sharlene Mawdsley will be racing the 400m at Meeting Madrid, also a Continental Tour Silver meeting, as she endeavours to break 50 seconds for the first time. A podium finish here would boost her chances of making the World Ultimate Championships in September.

Cillian Kirwan and Hannah Segrave are both due to compete at Meeting Arcobaleno EAP AtleticaEuropa, a Continental Tour Challenger, in Italy. Kirwan has the Athletics Ireland B standard, but is still some way off the quota spots.

The European Under 18 Championships got underway in Rieti on Thursday morning and will continue through until Sunday evening. Irish athletes will be hopeful of medals across the four days of competition.

Friday night lights

All eyes will be on Bishopstown on Friday for the MTU Track Night. Notable names among the sizeable entry include Colin Doyle, Mollie O’Reilly (100m) and David Cussen (High Jump). Entries for this event remain open until 7pm on Thursday.

Slamdunk Saturday

Hundreds of Irish fans will head to London on Saturday for the 11th Diamond League meeting of the season, and they’ll have plenty of Irish athletes to cheer.

An incredibly competitive men’s 800m will include both Cian McPhillips and Mark English, while Sarah Healy will compete over the 3000m. Orla Comerford (ambulant 100m), Brandon Ballard (ambulant 1500m) and the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay teams will all take part in the pre-meeting programme.

English won the opening Diamond League race of the season, and has raced extensively since, with mixed results. McPhillips, on the other hand, has had a quiet year, his indoor season curtailed due to dental issues. His last outing, at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Budapest on Tuesday, was less than impressive, so he’ll be looking for a quick return to form.

Likewise, Healy missed the indoor season, and while her opening runs over 5000m, 1500m and the mile haven’t been disastrous by any means, she’ll be looking for that extra spark over yet another distance at which she is second on the Irish all-time list.

Comerford has been in unbeatable form all season, and broke the European T13 record at the Morton Games last week. She’ll be looking to continue that form in the British capital. Twenty-three-year-old Ballard transferred allegiance from Great Britain to Ireland in August last year.

The main programme events will be shown on Virgin Media Two from 2-4pm. There will be extended coverage on Virgin Media Play to include the relay races, but not the para races.

The KBC Nacht (Night of Athletics) in Heusden-Zolder is another important competition for those seeking last-minute European Championship qualification, though it’s likely that the entries include a number of athletes who will not compete should other competitions go their way on Thursday.

Adeleke will race over 400m, in a last-ditch attempt to qualify for Birmingham. The automatic qualification standard of 51.20 should be well within her grasp, and will be the minimum target for the Tallaght AC star.

800m runners Kirwan, Moore and O’Neill all have at least a shot at making the team for Birmingham and will also race on Thursday (see above). Eimear Maher has the B standard for Birmingham in the 1500m but is outside the quota sports, ranked just behind Laura Nicholson who still needs the 4:07.00 standard. Maddie Mooney and Zoe Toland, both setting personal bests over multiple distances in the past week, are also entered in the 1500m.

Other names on the entries include Joe Doody (400m), who’ll be looking to make the relay team in Birmingham, and Cormac Dalton (5000m). The complete startlists for the main programme events have not yet been confirmed, so other Irish athletes may also be competing.

Rory Devaney, a recent transferee from the United States, will compete in the Lappeenrante Games in Finland. Devaney is the top Irish hammer thrower this year, and has a personal best of 74.16m.

The National multi-events Championships get underway in Santry on Saturday. Laura Frawley, a two-time national heptathlon champion, will start as favourite for the senior women’s title, while Lexx McConville is the only athlete entered in the senior men’s event. National U20, Masters and juvenile titles will also be decided across the two days of competition.

Sunday Showdown

The AAI Games, which will take place in Morton Stadium in Santry, has one of its strongest entry lists in recent time. Many, however, may be entered in case other results don’t go their way this weekend, or if their flights or meetings abroad are cancelled.

If, however, everyone does show, exciting races are guaranteed over a number of distances, most notably the 400m hurdles, where in-form brothers Ethan Dewhirst and Fintan Dewhirst are both entered. There is very little to separate the Donegal pair on paper, but this is the first (and probably last) time they would go head-to-head this season.

The men’s 400m has Jack Raftery and Cillin Greene among the entries, along with Ciarán Carthy, while Sophie Becker is the standout entry in the women’s 400m. Marcus Lawlor (200m), Adam Nolan (110m Hurdles) and Victoria Amiadamen (400m Hurdles) are among the other leading names in the sprints and hurdles events.

Field event entries include Sophie Meredith (Long Jump), Saragh Buggy (Triple Jump), Michaela Walsh (Shot Put), Eoin Sheridan, Anna Gavigan (Discus), Margaret Hayden (Hammer), Cusack and Kate Joyce (Javelin), all title contenders at next weekend’s national Senior Championships.

Among the leading entries in the middle distance events are Moore (800m), who is also on startlists on Thursday and Saturday, and Liam Lyons (800m), who ran sub-four miles in Cork and Morton last week.

The National Senior and Master 10 Mile champions will be decided in the Phoenix Part on Sunday morning. Jake O’Regan and Heather Murphy are among the leading entries. See the Athletics Ireland website for a more detailed preview.

Molly Scott (100m) and Adam Murphy (200m) are the leading Irish entries for the BFTTA Outdoor Series 4 meeting in north London. Day two of the National multi-events will be held alongside the AAI Games, while the European U18 Championships will conclude in Rieti.

After an exciting evening in Bishopstown mid-week, the continental tour rolls into Santry on Friday, where the Morton Games will kick-start another exciting weekend of athletics.

Abroad, middle distance athletes will be racing at the Watford BMC, many of the sprinters and hurdlers are heading to the Stratford Speed meeting in London, while a mix of sprinters and jumpers will be chasing personal bests in Kortrijk, Belgium. Athletes will also be competing in Netherlands, Portugal, Finland, Germany and the United States.

Junior athletes have until Sunday night to achieve standards for the World U20 Championships, while this weekend marks the two-weeks-to-go point on the Road to Birmingham. By the end of the weekend, there will be just 4 weeks to go until the biggest event of the year.

Morton Games

The second of Ireland’s two Continental Tour Bronze meetings, the Morton Games, will feature many of the athletes we saw in Cork on Wednesday, including a similarly world-class women’s hammer field, some additional overseas star quality and a few Irish athletes we’ve not seen a huge amount of this season.

Fans will have a sneak preview of some of the national title battles that will be fought out on this track in two weeks’ time, as well as witness some evolving twists and turns on the road to Birmingham.

For a detailed breakdown of the international and domestic athletes to look out for, check out the news features on the Morton Games website. Here we’ll take a look at a few interesting events from an Irish perspective.

Women's 1500m

The unfolding storyline of the women’s 1500m - and the cacophony of potential outcomes in terms of Birmingham qualification - is particularly intriguing. Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan boxed off the automatic qualification standard at the World Championship last September, and are highly likely to be on the European Championships team.

While Ciara Mageean almost certainly won’t use her wildcard spot as defending champion, Irish athletes have known that there was another spot up for grabs, irrespective of Mageean’s availability, and three athletes in particular have been invested in chasing that final spot.

Both Eimear Maher and Jodie McCann achieved the Athletics Ireland B standard in the past week. Laura Nicholson, however, is the only one of the three currently within quota on ranking points. Both criteria need to be met to make the team.

Nicholson will be hoping to better the 4:07.00 mark on Friday, and both her and Maher will be looking to increase their ranking points in Santry. McCann, whose points from Wednesday won't be added until next week, is racing in Portugal on Saturday (see below).

A fast race at Nationals has the potential to elevate all three within quota come close of qualification, but the side quest of securing a national title is more likely to lead to a cagey contest. And the dream outcome for any of the contenders would be hitting the 4:03.50 automatic standard in the coming weeks.

Men's 5000m

Darragh McElhinney, Nick Griggs (both with the automatic standard) and Brian Fay (currently sitting in a quota spot) are likely to make the 5000m in Birmingham, and they will be among those racing that distance on Friday. Griggs wasn’t far off Fay’s National record of 13:01.40 last summer, and in the right conditions on the right day, all three have the potential to break 13 minutes.

Also racing over 12.5 laps are Jack O’Leary, who has the 10,000m standard for Birmingham, Cormac Dalton who ran a solid 3000m in Cork on Wednesday on return from injury, Callum Morgan, who’ll be racing this distance at the Commonwealth Games at the end of the month, and Shay McEvoy, who actually has the Athletics Ireland B standard for the 10,000m, but is too far down the rankings for that to be a realistic dream.

The national title decided at this distance last year was one for the ages. A slightly different cast, at the same venue, could well lead to similar showstopping performances. And that’s before we consider the more-than-cameo appearances of the overseas actors. While nobody knows what drama might unfold, this likely to be one not to miss.

Men's 400m

With the mixed 4x400m team now unlikely to qualify to defend their title in Birmingham, male 400m athletes will be hoping that they hold on to their top-16 position in the men’s 4x400m relay, for most, their only likely route to the European Championships.

Three of the athletes who would be hoping to make the cut for any team selected are racing on Friday, and will be looking to impress in the one-lap event. Jack Raftery, who has the Athletics Ireland B standard and is currently just outside quota, does still have a shot at making the individual event. This will be his first race since mid-May.

Sean Doggett has run personal bests both indoors and outdoors this year, and won the Irish U23 200m title on Sunday. He’ll be hoping to continue his progress on Friday as he looks to make his second European Championship team, following his debut in Rome as a 17-year-old.

Andrew Egan ran 45.86 last season, and is slowly building towards that level this season. Could he spring an upset on the reigning national and national indoor champions, and which, of any of them, will be the first Irish athlete to run sub 46 this season.

Other events

Bori Akinola and Sean Aigboboh will go head-to-head again over 100m, Nicola Tuthill will have another shot at upsetting the Olympic and World Champion and breaking the 19-year-old national hammer record, and Alex O’Neill will have another shot at the Athletics Ireland B standard she missed by 0.01 seconds last week.

There were no Irish winners in the international events in Cork. The Morton crowd will be hoping for a few podium-topping performances, not least in the men's mile which will close the programme. Cathal Doyle will be looking for his second Morton Mile title, and the fourth Irish win in five years. Hitting the 1500m point in 3:33.50 or faster – the automatic standard for Birmingham – would be the cherry on top.

Other Continental Tour meetings

Colin Doyle (100m), Paul Costelloe (100m, 200m) and Rhianna McCarthy (100m, 200m) are entered for the Fast Arms, Fast Legs Continental Tour Challenger meeting in Wetzlar, Germany on Friday.

A healthy consignment of middle distance runners are heading to Watford for the British Milers Club (BMC) Grand Prix, a Continental Tour Challenger meeting, on Saturday. Among them are Finley Daly (3000m steeplechase) who is chasing the Athletics Ireland B standard for Birmingham; and Neasa Ni Ainifein, Niamh Carr, Zoe Toland (1500m) and Ella Fennelly (3000m) who have been in personal best-smashing form recently.

Noah Harris, who just missed the World U20 qualification time in Cork on Wednesday, is also on the startlist for the 3000m. Pia Langton, who got her second World U20 qualifier in Cork on Wednesday, and Colin P Smith, who has got a lane at the Morton Games, are also on the startlist at the time of writing, but presumably won’t be racing.

The entries for the bronze level Moore-Guldensporenmeeting in Kortrijk include high jumpers Sommer Lecky and Daena Kealy; Lauren Callaghan who has been edging ever closer to the Athletics Ireland B standard for the long jump (6.55); Adam Nolan (110m hurdles), and sprinters Katie Bergin (100m, 200m), Molly Daly (400m), and Benjamin Richardson (100m, 200m).

McCann has run personal bests in her last two 1500m races, and bettered the Athletics Ireland B standard for Birmingham in her most recent outing on Wednesday. She will race again at the Meeting of Braga in Portugal (Continental Tour Bronze) on Saturday, as she continues to boost her Road to Birmingham ranking.

Elizabeth Ndudi (Long Jump) is also competing. Like McCann, she has the Athletics Ireland B standard, but needs a serious boost of ranking points if she is to make it to Birmingham.

Eilish Flanagan on the 5000m startlist for the Sound Running Sunset Tour in Los Angeles. This would be the Tokyo Olympian's first track race since 2024.

Sunday’s big meeting from an Irish perspective is Stratford Speed where a huge contingent of sprinters and hurdlers are entered. The women’s 400m Hurdles list, alone, contains the names of half a dozen Irish athletes.

Ciara Neville, Precious Akpe-Moses, Molly Scott, Sarah Leahy and Mollie O’Reilly are among the leading names in the women’s 100m, while Max O’Reilly, Colin Doyle and Michael Farrelly are entered in the men’s 100m.

Adam Murphy and Commonwealth Games-bound Anna McCauley look set to get a runout over 200m; Hugo Magee, Joe Doody, Darragh Murphy, Aaron Keane and Michelle Duggan are entered in the 400m, while Victoria Amiadamen and Cara Murphy are among those going in the 400m Hurdles.

After a mid-week win over 1500m in Joensuu, Maddie Mooney will again race in Finland, this time over 800m at the Tampere Meeting on Sunday.

Kealy, entered for both Morton on Friday and Kortrijk on Saturday, is also scheduled to compete at the Klaverbad International High Jump Meeting (Continental Tour Challenger) in Zoetermeer, Netherlands on Sunday.

Elsewhere

The Monaco Diamond League also takes place on Friday. There are no Irish athletes on the startlists, but fans can expect to see Faith Kipyegon (3000m), Simon Ehammer (Long Jump), Julien Alfred (200m) among the talent-packed fields. The meeting will be broadcast live on Virgin Media Two from 7-9pm.

Mikey Kent, another athlete chasing World U20 qualification, is entered in the long jump at two category F meetings in the Netherlands over the weekend. He has already surpassed the 7.60m standard once, and needs another jump in that range to book his ticket to Eugene.

The two-day Eugene Diamond League is the marquee event for international stars this weekend, but Irish age group athletes will be battling for national under-20 and under-23 titles in Tullamore on Saturday and Sunday.

Meanwhile, the quest for Birmingham qualification continues for Cathal Doyle, Finley Daly, Cillian Kirwan, Alex O’Neill, Eimear Maher, and others at various continental tour meetings around Europe.

Diamond League

The Prefontaine Classic/Eugene Diamond League is spread over two days, with all the Diamond Events taking place on Saturday. Among the star-stuffed fields are Sarah Healy (Mile) and Rhasidat Adeleke (400m).

After skipping the indoor season, Healy started her outdoor campaign with 5000m at the Rome Diamond League in early June and finished 11th in the 1500m (4:01.50) in Paris last Sunday. She has achieved the Birmingham standard for both distances, though will likely only contest the 1500m there, and will be looking for a confidence-boosting result in ‘Tracktown’.

The Dublin woman’s Mile personal best is the 4:16.26 she ran at the London Diamond League last July. That time places her 2nd on the Irish all-time list, behind Ciara Mageean’s 4:14.58 national record. Her opposition on Saturday includes World Record Holder Faith Kipyegon, Jessica Hull, Georgia Hunter-Bell, and Nikki Hiltz.

Adeleke will be racing in the 400m on Friday night (early Saturday morning Irish time). Though not a Diamond event, the startlist includes eight athletes who have broken 50 seconds for the distance. 2026 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor champion Dejanea Oakley, with a best of 48.79 from earlier this year, is the fastest in the field.

Adeleke is likely to need the 51.20 European Championship standard in this or one of her upcoming races to secure her spot in Birmingham, and five good results between now and the beginning of September (or a Diamond League final win) to make it to the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships.

Maddie Mooney, who ran a personal best of 4:11.32 in Portland two weeks ago, is tasked with pacing a high-quality women's 1500m on Saturday, ahead of some races in Europe over the coming weeks, 

The Diamond events will be shown live on Virgin Media Two from 9-11pm on Saturday. The women’s Mile is the penultimate event on the programme. The women’s 400m is at 4:37am on Saturday morning.

Continental Tour meetings

Doyle edged closer to Birmingham qualification when he ran 3:33.79 in the 1500m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Zagreb last Friday. He is now within quota for Birmingham, and just 0.29 off the qualification standard which would all but guarantee his place at the European Championships.

Bettering the 3:30.50 qualification mark will be one of his targets when he lines up at Meeting Stanislas Nancy (Continental Tour Silver) in Tomblaine, France, on Friday, ahead of races over 800m in Cork and the Mile in Santry next week.

The list of entries for Meeting National Est Lyonnais on Saturday includes four Irish athletes with at least one eye on Birmingham qualification.

Kirwan (800m) achieved the Athletics Ireland B standard in Vienna two weeks ago, but in what is a very competitive event, he may need to run the automatic qualification standard (1:44.80) to secure his spot in Birmingham (27 of the 32 spots available on the Road to Birmingham rankings are currently occupied by those qualified by standard or wild card).

Daly just missed the Athletics Ireland B standard in the 3000m Steeplechase at a BMC event in Birmingham at the end of May. In addition to bettering the 8:35.00 needed, he’ll also be looking to add ranking points to elevate himself within quota.

With lifetime bests faster than the Athletics Ireland B standard in their respective events, both Dunne (1500m) and O’Neill (800m) know that they have what it takes to make the team for Birmingham. With just a month of qualification remaining, they’ll be looking to replicate the form they showed in 2025, and pick up adequate ranking points along the way.

Saturday’s Meeting voor Mon in Polsstokgala, Belgium, lists a dozen Irish athletes among their entries, including some who are also entered for meetings elsewhere. We refer here only to athletes who are not listed on entries for other meetings.

Arlene Crossan, who has been in flying form so far this season, is due to race over 400m Hurdles. The Donegal woman ran a personal best of 57.95 in Brussels in May. Louis O’Loughlin, another athlete in personal best form this season and Amy O’Donoghue are all due to race over 1500m.

Maher, with a best of 4:08.67, and Jodie McCann, with a best of 4:08.34, will both have the 4:07.00 Athletics Ireland B-standard for Birmingham in their sights when they race at the X Ordizia Meeting - International Meeting Jose Antonio Peña in Spain on Saturday.

There are numerous Irish athletes on the startlists for The Pursuit 5,000m (Continental Tour Challenger) in Stirling, Scotland, on Saturday. In addition to the 5000m races, where Emily Haggard-Kearney, Faye Dervan and Jamie Battle are entered, the event also includes 800m races. Niamh Carr and Callum Hurley are among the leading Irish entrants at the shorter distance.

National U20 & U23 T&F Championships

Some of Ireland’s top developing talent will be on display at the National U20 and U23 Championships in Tullamore across the weekend. In addition to the national medals on offer, some of the under-20 athletes will be looking to secure their spot at the World Championships in Eugene next month.

Among the athletes who have achieved the required standards for Eugene (two for most events, one for 3000m, 5000m, walks, steeplechase and combined events), are Ethan Dewhirst and Des O’Neill (400m Hurdles), Saoirse Fitzgerald (800m), Gemma Galvin (1500m), Orlaith Manion (100m Hurdles), Ellis McHugh (400m Hurdles), Siún Quinn (High Jump), Cillian Gleeson (5000m), Dearbhla Allen (3000m Steeplechase), Seamus Clarke, Matthew Newell (5000m Walk), Enya Silkenna (Heptathlon) and Eoin O’Callaghan (Decathlon). All are entered, though not all in the event for which they have standards.

Sofia Grango (200m), Molly Daly, Erin Friel (both 400m), Pia Langton (800m and 1500m) and Mikey Kent (Long Jump) are among those looking for a second standard in the coming days.

Among the leading U23 athletes entered are Anna Gavigan (Discus), who isn’t a huge distance from Birmingham qualification, Max O’Reilly, Lucas Fadden, Sean Doggett, Fintan Dewhirst and Joe Doody in the sprints, distance athletes Neasa Ni Ainifein (1500m), Amy Greene and Heather Murphy (5000m), Aisling Lane (3000m Walk), Adam Nolan (110m Hurdles) and Conor Callinan (Pole Vault).

Patricia Jackman, who made her Irish debut at the European 10,000m Cup in May, is the lead entry in the National Senior 10,000m championships, which is being held as part of this event.

See the Athletics Ireland website for a more detailed preview of the event.

Elsewhere

Sommer Lecky (High Jump) and Clodagh Walsh (Pole Vault) are among the Irish entries for the England Athletics Senior and U20 Championships, which will run from Friday to Sunday in Bedford.

Nicola Sheridan (Marathon) and Grace Lynch (Half Marathon) are among the elite entries for the Gold Coast Marathon. The longer distance, which will take place on Sunday, is a World Athletics Gold Label race. The Half Marathon on Saturday, will incorporate the Oceania Half Marathon Championships.