2025: A record-breaking year for Irish athletics
Elizabeth Egan | Nov 01, 2025
To say that 2025 has been a record-breaking year for Irish athletics is an understatement. With several Irish records broken, World and European medals won indoors and out, and curses broken, it was a memorable year for many.
With the European Cross Country Championships still to go, Ireland are already some way ahead of their highest annual medal tally. Irish athletes have earned 21 International medals, from European Youth Olympics right up to World Senior Championships, this year.
While there have never been as many international events for athletes to win medals in, this still makes 2019 (14 medals) and 2005 (13 medals) look mediocre years. As recently as 2016, Irish athletes won just 3 medals on the international stage. There were no international medals for Irish athletes in 1996.
Years, too, will have passed in which no national senior records were broken. This year, the record books have been comprehensively rewritten.
Here we share some of the data and quirky statistics behind the 2025 season of dreams.
Championship success
After hitting the crossbar at the previous two editions, Irish athletes won not one, but three medals at the European Indoor Championships, courtesy of Sarah Healy (gold, 3000m), Mark English (bronze, 800m) and Kate O’Connor (bronze, Pentathlon).
Irish athletes have twice before won three medals at a European Indoor Championships (2009 and 2013), but on both occasions, all three medals were bronze. Healy is Ireland’s first female champion at this event. English’s medal took his European championship haul to five (a silver and two bronze indoors, two bronze outdoors).
Just two weeks later, O’Connor won Ireland’s first World Indoor medal in 18 years when she finished second in the pentathlon in Nanjing.
If the European Indoors didn’t indicate that 2025 was going to be a very good one for Irish athletes, then a small event in Nicosia a week later provided additional evidence that at least the nerdiest of athletics enthusiasts will have taken notice of. Five athletes travelled to the Cypriot capital for the European Throwing Cup, and three won medals.
After two consecutive silvers in the U23 Hammer, Nicola Tuthill won gold, Anna Gavigan took silver in the U23 Discus, while 2024 World U20 medallist Oisín Joyce won bronze in the U23 Javelin, placing Ireland equal third on the medal table, behind Germany and Italy. The five aforementioned medals are the only ones ever won by Irish athletes at an event held annually since 2001.
Sophie O’Sullivan (1500m) became the fifth Irish female to win an NCAA Track and Field title. Herself and Sonia O’Sullivan became the first Irish mother/daughter pairing to do so. And speaking of mother-daughter duos, NCAA 800m champion Roisin Willis (USA) is the daughter of 2000 Irish Olympian Breda Dennehy-Willis.
Efrem Gidey became not just the first Irish athlete to win a European 10,000m cup title, but the first to win a medal of any colour at this event.
Four Irish athletes won five medals at the European U23 Championships, the most ever won by an Irish team at this event (two was the previous best return). In winning the 10,000m, Anika Thompson became only the second Irish athlete to win gold at this level (after O’Sullivan’s 1500m win in 2023), and she became the first Irish athlete to win more than one European U23 medal at a single edition when she added bronze in the 5000m three days later.
In winning silver in the 5000m, Nick Griggs brought his tally of individual European underage medals (track and field and cross country) to six. He also has three European Cross Country team medals.
O’Connor won Ireland’s fifth World University title in Germany (the previous champions are Ronnie Delaney, Sonia O’Sullivan, Niall Bruton and Thomas Barr). None of the eight athletes who competed for Ireland in 2025 finished outside the top 12.
Twenty athletes competed in individual events at the World Championships in Tokyo. They, along with two relay teams, made a total team of 27, the largest ever to represent the country at a World Championships (the athletics team for the Sydney Olympics, where 32 athletes competed, is the largest Ireland has ever sent to a global Championships).
The silver medal won by O’Connor in Tokyo is only the seventh ever won by an Irish athlete, and is the first in an event that isn’t either a middle distance race or a racewalk. O’Connor’s medal was also Ireland’s first global senior outdoor medal (World Championships or Olympics) since 2013.
Breaking actual records
O’Connor broke the national indoor Pentathlon record twice and the Heptathlon record twice. She has added 899 points to the latter since it was last held by someone else (Elizabeth Morland, 5815, 2018). Morland and O’Connor both competed at the European Junior Championships in Grosseto in 2017, where Morland finished fifth, in a then National senior record of 5801, and O’Connor, then just 16, finished eighth.
English broke the indoor 800m record twice and the outdoor record three times, before Cian McPhillips went on to break the latter twice in Tokyo. Together, they knocked 2.38 seconds off English’s previous mark from 2024, with English becoming the first Irish athlete to break 1:44 and McPhillips the first to break 1:43.
The Irish marathon record, previously held by Stephen Scullion, was broken three times in 12 months (Hiko Tonosa, 27 Oct 2024; Peter Lynch, April 2025; Fearghal Curtin, 18 October). Curtin’s time, subject to ratification, also betters John Treacy’s 1988 performance of 2:09:15 in Boston (no longer a record-eligible course), as the fastest time all conditions by an Irish man.
The Half Marathon record also received multiple revisions in the past 12 months. The record set by Gidey in September 2024 (1:00:51) was equalled by Tonosa in January, before being broken by Curtin in September (1:00:22).
Bori Akinola ran the fastest all-conditions 100m by an Irish man in London in June (10.10w; +2.9), before Israel Olatunde bettered that with a wind-legal 10.08, also in London, in September.
The men’s 4x100m squad of Michael Farrelly, Akinola, Marcus Lawler & Olatunde bettered the 25-year-old national record in Geneva in mid-June, before a slightly altered squad (Sean Aigboboh in for Akinola) went on to better it at the European Team Championships just a week later.
Niamh Fogarty broke one of the longest-standing records in the books (only Marita Walton-Lanigan’s shot put record from 1982 has stood for longer on the women’s side) when she launched the discus 58.40 metres in Romona, Oklahoma on 27th April, bettering Patricia Walsh’s mark from 1984.
Healy and Coscoran were on record-breaking rampages early in the Indoor season. Healy set new marks at 1500m before twice bettering her own 3000m record, while Coscoran ran new marks at 1500m, mile and 3000m. His mile time from the Millrose Games was also faster than the outright mile record.
Gidey broke both the 10,000m and 10km records. He knocked more than 12 seconds off Alistair Cragg’s 2007 mark in the former. In the latter, he shaved 3 seconds off Treacy’s mark from 1985.
In addition to the above, Diarmuid O’Connor set a new indoor Heptathlon record, while the women’s 4x100m team set a new mark outdoors.
On the circuit
Sarah Healy became just the third Irish athlete – after Ciara Mageean and Rhasidat Adeleke - to win a Diamond League race when she won over 1500m in Rome on 6th June. She also finished in the top three in Rabat, where she ran 8:27.02 for 3000m and edged closer to Sonia O’Sullivan’s 31-year-old national record; in Rome, where she narrowly missed out on another 1500m win, and in London, where she ran 4:16.26 for the mile. She finished eighth in the final in Zurich.
In total, six athletes (Adeleke, Brian Fay, Cathal Doyle, Healy, English and Coscoran), competed in Diamond Disciplines at Diamond League meetings this summer, compared to eight last year. Healy was the only one to qualify for the Diamond League final.
Shauna Bosquet and Orla Comerford competed in para-athletics events held as part of the Diamond League programmes, with Comerford taking wins in the mixed category 100m in Stockholm and Eugene. It was at the Diamond League in London that the women’s 4x100m relay team broke the national record.
English won Continental Tour Gold meetings in Bydgoszcz, Hengelo and Beijing, and finished 2nd in Budapest.
The other Irish athletes to compete at Continental Tour Gold level this summer were O’Sullivan, Fay, Sharlene Mawdsley, Doyle, Jodie McCann, Coscoran, Sarah Lavin and Darragh McElhinney. In total, 11 athletes competed across the two top divisions of circuit meetings.
There was a World Indoor Tour Gold win for Coscoran (3000m, New Balance Boston), who also won the 3000m and finished 2nd overall in the Men’s Long-Distance category at the Miami Grand Slam Track meeting.
Top lists
With so many national records being set, and numerous athletes achieving number two all-time status, the national leads look mightily impressive at the end of the season, especially when, as we’ve done, indoor and outdoor performances are combined.
While many of those holding the national leads at the end of the season are unsurprising, a couple are less obvious.
Adeyemi Talabi was the fastest Irish woman over 100m this season, and Lucy-May Sleeman was the second fastest. With both calling an end to their season in June after a busy NCAA season, neither featured on the team which broke the 4x100m record in July.
The Irish women’s 100m all-time list had a major update in the space of just 24 hours in May as Talabi moved to 5th, Sleeman to 6th and Lauren Roy to equal 10th.
Doyle’s 3:32.15 is the national leader over 1500m, as World Championship finalist Andrew Coscoran never bettered the 3:33.40 national indoor record he set in February. Doyle and Coscoran are among the few top Irish athletes who have not yet achieved the automatic standard for the European Championships in Birmingham next year.
Where they stand at the end of the day
McPhillips (800m), O'Connor (Heptathlon) and Gidey (10,000m) all end the 2025 season at the top of the European performance lists. Healy is second for both 1500m and 3000m. Based on World Rankings, both Healy (1500m) and O'Connor (Heptathlon) are top-ranked Europeans right now.
At World level, O’Connor is second on both the rankings and the performance (top) list. Others in the top 20 on the World Rankings are Healy (6th 1500m), English (12th 800m), McPhillips (14th 800m), Adeleke (15th 400m) and Tuthill (20th Hammer).
On the performance lists, Healy is 14th at 1500m, 3rd at the mile and 11th over 3000m. McPhillips was the 5th fastest in the world over 800m, while English was 20th. Coscoran was 11th fastest over 3000m.
National Championship statistics
At 153 consecutive editions, the Irish Senior Track and Field Championships continues to be the longest-running national championships in the world.
Kate Veale (5000m Walk) won her sixth consecutive title (and 11th in total). There was a fifth consecutive title for Lavin (her 10th national 100m hurdles title in total), Sean Mockler (Hammer), and Michael Healy (Weight for Distance). English also won his 10th Senior 800m title. Saragh Buggy, who has been peerless in the triple jump for nearly a decade, had her nine-year-win streak broken, reinforcing just how incredible Terry McHugh’s 21 consecutive javelin titles (1984-2004) are.
Indoors, Buggy won her ninth Triple Jump title, Michaela Walsh (Shot Put) and Veale (3000m Walk) each won an eight consecutive title, while David Kenny picked up a fifth consecutive title in the 5000m Walk. At the other end of the scale, 2005 is the last time someone successfully defended a pentathlon title, with 10 different winners in the last 10 editions.
The Men’s Cross Country championship has had a different winner in each of the last nine editions. The last seven editions of the women’s race have been won by seven different athletes.
More fourths
The most shocking thing about the Irish success at the European U23 Championships was less that they won 5 medals, and more that nobody finished fourth.
Those who did finish 4th this year: Lavin (60m hurdles, European Indoors); Gidey (Half Marathon, European Road Running Championships); Matthew Newell (5000m Walk), Thomas Williams (Hammer) and the Women’s Sprint Medley Relay at European Youth Olympics; Jack Raftery (400m, World University Games), Precious Akpe-Moses (200m, European U20 Championships) and McPhillips (800m, World Championships).
Other random facts and figures
In finishing 9th in the Marathon in Tokyo, five-time Olympian Fionnuala McCormack achieved her highest ever placing at a global event. Her second highest, 11th place in the steeplechase in Osaka, came 18 years ago. McCormack has now represented Ireland 46 times at senior championships. She only needs two more appearances to draw level with Terry McHugh, Ireland’s most capped athlete.
Five Irish athletes (Healy, English, Lavin, Becker and Coscoran) completed the Tokyo-to-Tokyo track and field streak (i.e. competed in the two Olympic Games, three World Championships and two European Championships from Tokyo 2020 to Tokyo 2025, inclusive).
After the fifth round of the hammer final at the World University Games in Germany, Tuthill was in the silver medal position with a best of 68.46m. Eighteen years earlier, Eileen O’Keefe won World University Games silver in the hammer with a best of 68.46m. Tuthill improved to 69.98m in the final round, securing the silver medal but undoing what would have been the stat of the year.
McPhillips’ 800m run in the World Championship final earned him 1532 World Ranking points (1262 for the time and 270 for placing 4th), the most achieved by an Irish athlete since the World Rankings were introduced in 2020. However, Coscoran’s indoor mile time, worth 1273 points on the World Athletics tables, is the best scoring performance ever by an Irish athlete.
English has competed at seven consecutive World Championships (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2025); all at 800m. Phil Healy has competed at five consecutive European indoor Championships.
The 2:12:11 run by Paul O'Donnell in finishing 3rd (behind David McGlynn 2:11:01 and Ryan Creech 2:11.46) at this year’s Dublin Marathon is the fastest time ever needed to make the men’s national championship podium.
What next?
2025 has already been a record-breaking year on many fronts, and more history could be made at the European Cross Country Championships in Portugal in December. With World Indoor Championships, European Championships, Commonwealth Games, and many other events due to take place, 2026 could see more silverware coming the way of Irish athletes.
We’ll keep you informed of who has achieved standards and who sits within quota for the various events, who wins medals, and what records are broken. But we also hope to inform you of some of the less obvious achievements and statistics.
References: The information in this article has been compiled using competition results and data from the World Athletics rankings and toplists; the Athletics Ireland toplists and roll of honour documents, and various other online sources.
