Sharlene Mawdsley due to make her Diamond League debut in Paris on Sunday
Elizabeth Egan | Jun 26, 2026
This weekend starts with a Continental Tour Gold meeting in Zagreb on Friday and will end with a Diamond League meeting in Paris on Sunday. A small number of Continental Tour silver, bronze and challenger meetings are also due to take place across the weekend.
Sharlene Mawdsley (400m) will make her Diamond League debut in Paris, as Sarah Healy runs her first 1500m of the year. Though not a Diamond event, Andrew Coscoran is up against some formidable opposition in the men’s 1500m.
After breaking the National 1000m record in Ostrava, Mark English will return to the 800m in Zagreb, where Emma Moore and Cathal Doyle will continue their quest for Birmingham qualification.
Diamond League
On Friday, Paris Police Authorities requested the cancellation of major gatherings scheduled for this weekend in Paris. While temperatures are expected to have dropped by Sunday afternoon, the authorities stated that emergency services in the area are already strained. However, at the time of writing, it has just been confirmed that the event will go ahead under an adapted format.
Meeting de Paris is the 8th Diamond League of the season. Three Irish athletes have already competed in Diamond events in 2026, and Mawdsley will add her name to that list on Sunday when she takes on Marileidy Paulino, Natalia Bukowiecka, Lieke Klaver and others over 400m.
The Newport AC athlete secured the Auto Q for Birmingham last September, and has run the four fastest times of her career in her opening four individual 400m races of 2026. She is edging ever closer to sub-50, a time that would place her among the elite end of European 400m running.
Healy leapt to number two on the Irish all-time list for 5000m and achieved the European Championship Auto Q at the Rome Diamond League. Dropping down to a more familiar distance on this occasion, Healy will be looking to demonstrate the sort of form which earned her a maiden Diamond League win last season.
Coscoran has been in good, but not outstanding, form so far this season, falling just short of his mile best in his last outing in Oslo, and finishing 6th over 1500m (3:31.65) at the Rabat Diamond League. His three-year-old national record of 3:30.42 is ripe for revision when he combines the finishing speed he demonstrated in his opening races with ideal positioning at the bell.
Continental Tour Gold
There has been a strong Irish representation at all the European-based Continental Tour Gold meetings so far this season, and Friday’s Boris Hanžeković Memorial in Zagreb will be no different.
English has been racing extensively this season, to much success, already breaking national indoor 600m and 800m records, as well as the aforementioned national 1000m mark, and achieving his first Diamond League win in his opening race of the outdoor season.
Doyle still needs the Auto Q for the European Championships, a mark he missed by just half a second when finishing 5th at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku in early June, or some fast results in high-ranking races like Friday’s test in Croatia.
He is currently about 10 places outside the quota spots on the Road to Birmingham, but two good results would see him leapfrog many of those currently ahead of him. After missing out on a place in Rome, due to the quota spots being exceeded on qualification standards alone, Doyle will be keen to better 3:33.50, and not leave it up to the ranking-points lottery.
Moore ran a personal best 2:00.71 in Ostrava, and in the process secured the Athletics Ireland B standard for Birmingham. She is currently two spots outside quota, but a similar result on Friday would catapult her up the rankings.
Benjamin Richardson, who will be eligible to represent Ireland from August 2027, is due to race the 200m.
Other Continental Tour Meetings
Nicola Tuthill is due to compete in the Hammer at the Czesław Cybulski Memorial (Continental Tour Silver) in Poznan, Poland on Sunday, ahead of appearances at both the Cork City Sports and Morton Games in July. Among her opposition will be the World Record Holder Anita Włodarczky, who has a PB of 82.98, but whose season's best is not far beyond the 72.48 Tuthill threw earlier this year.
A number of Irish athletes are entered for the Immobel Infinity EAP Meeting Nivelles, a Continental Tour Challenger meeting, in Belgium, on Saturday, and the Meeting International Troyes Aube (Continental Tour Bronze) in France on Sunday. Indeed, two of the sprinters, Colin Doyle and Lucas Fadden, are entered for both.
The Nivelles timetable has been adjusted to avoid the hottest part of the day, while there is no confirmation on the status of the Troyes Aube meeting at the time of writing.
Joining Doyle and Fadden in Troyes Aube will be Jodie McCann, who will continue her quest for the Athletics Ireland B standard for Birmingham of 4:07.00, and valuable ranking points, over 1500m, and Arlene Crossan, who will look to continue her steady improvement over 400m Hurdles.
Sam Healy, Shane Howard and Ryan Onoh are all due to go in the Long Jump in Nivelles, where David Cussen (High Jump) looks set to open his 2026 account.
Fintan Dewhirst saw his younger brother Ethan again jump ahead of him on the Irish all-time list, and will be looking to continue his rise up the all-time rankings. Only two Irish athletes have ever broken 50 seconds for the event, but recent form suggests that a Dewhirst may well become the third. Kelly McGrory is entered for the women’s 400m Hurdles.
Sophie Becker is scheduled to race the 200m, while Jenna Breen is down for the 400m. Other entries include Orlaith Mannion (100m, 100m Hurdles), Oisín Lynch and Robert Hewison (800m)
While the Cork trio of Healy, Howard and Onah are potentially going head-to-head in Belgium on Saturday, another Long Jump talent, Mikey Kent, will be competing at Korzo Jump (Continental Tour Challenger) in Croatia on Sunday. The multi-skilled Wexford man added Irish schools Pole Vault and Long Jump titles to his growing resume in early June, winning the latter in a championship best performance of 7.57m (+1.9m/s).
Nathan Cremin (800m) and Zoe Toland (1500m), both of whom have been in personal best form this summer, were due to compete at Meeting International de Carquefou (Continental Tour Challenger) in France on Saturday, but that event has now been cancelled.
Rory Devaney, a recent transfer from the USA to Ireland, will compete in the hammer at the LA Throws Cup in Wilmington, California. Devaney has a best of 74.16m from 2025, and has thrown beyond 72 metres already this season.
Elsewhere
Niamh Allen and Fiona Everard are among the athletes racing at the tRUNsylvania International 10K Cluj in Romania on Sunday. They both sit just outside the qualification spots the 10,000m in Birmingham. As one of the few 10km races where the elite women start separately from the men, it provides female athletes with a rare opportunity to post a qualification standard on the road.
Everard has already bettered the 32:00 mark, but did so in a mixed race so it won't be enough to get her to Birmingham. it will, however, give her confidence ahead of this attempt. Allen, who finished 6th (32:15.79) at the European 10,000m cup earlier this month, will also be riding high on confidence. While the race could count for ranking points, they would both need to run faster than 32 minutes to improve their current score.
Update: the organisers of Meeting International Troyes Aube announced on their social media on Saturday morning that they had not received any request to cancel the meeting, and that it would go ahead as scheduled. The programme for Czesław Cybulski Memorial has been delayed because of the high temperatures forecast for Sunday.
