Margaret Hayden

The indoor season is relentless, and numerous Irish athletes will again be chasing qualification standards, national records and personal bests across the globe.

Much of the attention will be focused on the east coast of the United States where Irish athletes will be competing at both the Millrose Games and the John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston, but there is also action across Europe and in Ireland.

Irish in action at Millrose Games

The second of this season’s eight World Indoor Tour (WIT) Gold meetings will take place in New York on Sunday, and again there will be a strong Irish presence.

Cian McPhillips, who looked very impressive in his season opener over 600m at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston last Saturday, will race his first 800m since finishing fourth at the World Championships last September.

The World Indoor standard of 1:45.90 and Mark English’s recent Irish record of 1:44.65 will be among the possible targets, though another win at this level - particularly against three fellow sub 1.43 athletes - will be just as important. Among his opposition are Bryce Hoppel, Donavan Brazier, Ben Pattison and Mohamed Attaoui.

Andrew Coscoran, who finished second in Boston, just missing his own Irish record but securing the World Indoor qualification standard, will race over the mile this weekend. The World 1500m finalist broke Eamon Coughlan’s indoor mile record and Ray Flynn’s overall record when he finished seventh last year.

Eric Favors opened his season with 19.95m on 10th January, and will be looking towards the Athletics Ireland B standard for World Indoors (20.45m).

The Millrose Games features quite a substantial pre-programme, and among the other Irish athletes competing are Margaret Hayden in the Women’s Weight Throw on Saturday and Lucas Lyons in the junior men’s mile. There are also Irish representatives in the 'Fastest Kid in the World' races.

The Irish descend on Boston in expectation of fast times.

The Boston University indoor track has a reputation for producing fast times, and while the strong middle distance fields that reputation attracts can’t guarantee personal bests and national records, they certainly increase the chances.

In addition to all the college students, a number of Irish athletes have just completed a stint of altitude training in Flagstaff, and they appear to be descending on Boston en masse for the John Thomas Terrier Classic on Friday (Women) and Saturday (Men).

Brian Fay, Nick Griggs, Callum Morgan, James Gormley, Dean Casey and Micheál Power are all in the top heat of the men’s 5000m. Griggs already has both the European standard (13:08.00) and the Commonwealth Games consideration standard (13:30.00), but both the national U23 (13:24.17) and senior (13:12.56) indoor records stand danger.

Darragh McElhinney and Jack O’Leary are among those taking on the 3000m. With just two spots available at the World Indoors, and Conscoran and Griggs already having secured the qualification standard (7:33.00) at this distance, a good run from either could cause a potential headache for selectors.

Having paced in Boston last week, James Dunne will be making his competitive return following injury. The Tullamore Harrier had a breakthrough over 1500m early last summer, when he ran 3:35.17. He will be joined in the mile by Lughaidh Mallon, who ran 3:56.09 outdoors last summer, recent U23 1000m record breaker Liam Lyons, and Irish Indoor champion Kevin McGrath. Cillian Kirwan and Conall Rogers will race over 800.

On the women’s side, Danielle Donegan, Anna Gardiner and Niamh O’Mahony will race the 5000m. Jane Buckley is entered for the 3000m, Cara Laverty and Maddy Mooney will race the mile, Gemma Galvin is entered for the 1000m and Maeve O’Neill will run her first 800m of the indoor season, having run 2:41.07 for 1000m in mid-January and 1:28.09 for 600m on this track in early December.

Elsewhere in the US

There are a number of other meetings in the US on Friday and Saturday.

Conor Kelly will race over 200m at the Razorback Invitational. Lucy-May Sleeman (60m and 200m), Elizabeth Ndudi (long jump) and Siun Quinn (high jump) are among the other Irish on the startlists.

Diarmuid O’Connor is entered for the shot put and high jump at the Harvard Invitational after improving his own Irish Heptathlon record last week.

Mark Milner (800m) and Ronan McMahon-Staggs (mile) are among the entries for the Washington Invite and Mile City in Seattle. McMahon-Staggs ran 3:51.85 for the mile on this track - which is longer than 200m, so doesn't count for indoor rankings or qualification - just over a year ago.

Check out our calendar page for details of other meetings where Irish athletes are competing.

European and Irish action

After moving to second on the Irish all-time list for the Pentathlon just two weeks ago, Anna McCauley will compete at the World Combined Events Tour Silver meeting in Tallinn on Sunday. Kate O’Connor broke the Irish record here last year before going on to have a season of dreams which included four championship medals.

Jodie McCann is on the startlist for the mile at the World Indoor Tour Silver Meeting de L’Eure in France on Sunday and Molly Scott (60m, 60m hurdles) is due to race at IFAM Gent Indoors, a WIT bronze event, on Saturday.

A little closer to home, the ScottishAthletics EAP (WIT Challenger) has a large number of athletes competing. Bori Akinola (60m) and Lauren Callaghan (Long Jump), will compete in the disciplines in which they won WIT Bronze meetings last week. Also on the startlists are Eimear Maher (Mile), Ciara Neville, Orla Comerford, Sarah Leahy and Molly O’Reilly (60m) and Rachel McCann. See our event page for full startlists.

Clodagh Walsh (Pole Vault), Michael Kent (Long Jump) and Saragh Buggy (Triple Jump) are all on the startlist for the Loughborough Indoor Open on Sunday. David Onwudiwe (Triple Jump) is entered for the South of England Championships, also on Sunday afternoon.

The Irish domestic action this weekend includes the Leinster Senior Championships on Saturday for which there are some strong fields, and the Munster Senior Championships on Monday.

There will be Irish interest in mid-week meetings in Ostrava, Czechia (World Indoor Tour Gold) and Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium, where some of the top 400m athletes will open their seasons.

*Update since publishing: McPhillips has withdrawn from Millrose Games.

This weekend is bookended by a Diamond League meet in Rome on Friday and a Continental Tour Gold meeting in Hengelo on Monday, both featuring Irish athletes.

Between those two is a World Race Walking Tour Gold event in Spain, a Leinster Championship with some very strong fields; a busy British Milers Club meeting in Birmingham for the middle distance athletes; distance athletes racing 5000m in Paris; lots of 400m guys and girls in Belgium, and lots more besides.

Rome Diamond League: 1500m starts for Healy and Doyle

After her fabulous 3000m run in Rabat last month, Sarah Healy will be racing her first 1500m of the season at the Rome Diamond League on Friday evening. Healy is in the shape of her life, and it’ll be interesting to see how close she can get to Ciara Mageean’s national record in the coming weeks.

Doyle finished eighth, and was just outside his personal best from the Olympic Games in Paris last year, when he made his Diamond League debut in Rabat, and he’s been rewarded with another start in Rome. While a spot in Tokyo is almost assured given his healthy Road to Tokyo ranking score, the 3:33.00 qualification standard, just 0.15 faster than he’s ever run before, must surely be on his mind.

The Rome Diamond League will be shown live on Virgin Media 3 from 8-10pm on Friday night. The Men’s 1500m is due off at 8:16pm, while the women’s race is at 9:49pm.

Continental Tour Gold comes to Hengelo

After breaking his own Irish 800m record and taking the win at the last European-based Continental Tour Gold meeting a week ago, Mark English is entered for the FBK Games in Hengelo on Monday.

Paralympic medalist Orla Comerford is also due to race in the para-athletics 100m.

All Continental Tour Gold meetings can be viewed in Ireland via the World Athletics platform.

World Racewalking Tour Gold

David Kenny finished 11th in the 20km walk at the recent European Racewalking Team Championships. His time there was his second fastest ever, and he'll be hoping to go close to his 2022 PB of 1:19:44 when he takes to the streets of La Coruna on Saturday.

Matthew Glennon and Ciara Wilson-Bowen are entered for 10km races which are run alongside the highly competitive 20km events.

Continental Tour bronze and challenger meetings and other events abroad

Darragh McElhinney, Oisín Ó Gailín (5000m), Emma McEvoy, Danielle Donegan, Fiona Everard and Aoife O'Cuill are all on the startlist for the FAST5000, a series of track 5000m races in Fance on Saturday.

Several Irish athletes are entered for the British Milers Club meeting at University of Birmingham on Saturday evening, including Roisin Flanagan in the 1500m, and seven Irish athletes in the women’s 3000m steeplechase. Many athletes will be seaking European U20 and U23 qualification standards.

Victoria Amiadamen will race the 400m hurdles at the Meeting International de Limoges in France on Saturday, while Margaret Hayden is on the startlist at a hammer meeting in Germany on Sunday.

The FC Putbos Memorial Buyle in Oordegem (Belgium) has several Irish sprinters on the startlist.

Leinster Senior, U20 and Masters Championships

There is a bumper entry for the Leinster Championships, which will be held at SETU Carlow on Saturday and Sunday. While not all those on the entries will compete, there should still be a competitive men's 100m, where Sean Aigboboh, Paul Costelloe, Max O'Reilly, Michael Farrelly and Marcus Lawler are among the entries and the men's discus where the top three athletes in the country (Eoin Sheridan, Michael Healy and Padrig Hore) are all entered. Other standout athletes listed include Nichola Tuthill, Molly Scott, Saragh Buggy and Sarah Leahy.

Also...

We have listed several other Continental Tour meetings on our calendar page, most of which have livestreams, and we are awaiting some startlists for events on Sunday. 

And don't expect next week to look any quieter. Rhadisat Adeleke will race the 400m at the Oslo Diamond League on Wednesday, seven Irish athletes will compete at the NCAA Div 1 Nationals, and Cillín Greene, Nicola Tuthill and Ava O'Connor will compete in Finland, all before we get anywhere near a weekend.