Nick Griggs U23

The 154th edition of the world's longest-running national championships will take place at Morton Stadium in Santry over the weekend. It will be followed by the Commonweatlh Games athletics programme, which gets underway in Glasgow on Monday and run until Sunday 1 August.

The World U20 Championships, to which a strong Irish team will be travelling, will take place in Eugene, Oregon from 5th to 9th August, and the European Championships, the main event of the year for senior athletes, will start the following day in Birmingham, and conclude on Sunday 16 August.

A few days later, the first of the four remaining Diamond League fixtures takes place in Lausanne, with the Diamond League final set for Brussels on 4 and 5 September. The inaugural World Ultimate Championships will be held in Budapest from 11-13 September, with the World Road Running Championships to be held in Copenhagen the following weekend.

This is what they call the business end of the season.

National Seniors

The Irish National Senior Championships is the highlight of the domestic calendar, and has become a major event for spectators in recent years. Big crowds are expected across both days of action this year.

Among the stars expected to compete are Sharlene Mawdsley, Mark English, Cian McPhillips, Sarah Healy, Sophie O’Sullivan, Nicola Tuthill, Eric Favors, Andrew Coscoran, Brian Fay, Darragh McElhinney, Bori Akinola, Rhasidat Adeleke, Lauren Roy, Sean Aigboboh, Cathal Doyle, Nick Griggs, Sophie Becker, Jack Raftery and many, many more.

Some of the athletes selected for the upcoming World U20 Championships are also entered, and many athletes will be hopeful of winning their first national senior title. An action-packed weekend is guaranteed.

Spectator tickets are still available, and those who can’t make it to Dublin can enjoy the action on the Athletics Ireland YouTube channel, with two hours of finals also being broadcast live on RTÉ on Sunday evening from 6-8pm.

Action gets underway at 12 noon on Saturday, with Sunday's programme starting at 2pm.

Fantasy National Seniors

Entries for the 2026 Fantasy National Seniors prediction competition will close at 10am on Saturday morning. You can enter here or via the link on our homepage. To take part, you just need to predict the medallists from any 10 events, choose a bonus athlete, complete the tiebreaker question and hit enter. We’ll update scoring on Saturday evening, and announce the winners on Monday morning. There are no prizes.

Road to Birmingham

This weekend offers athletes a final chance to hit standards and improve rankings before the European Championship qualification window closes at midnight on Sunday. As things currently stand, Ireland look set to send a large team to Birmingham, with the opportunity for a small number to add their names for consideration when rankings are finalised next week.

You’ll find the current status of all Irish contenders on our European Championship page.

Commonwealth Games

The post-championship blue will be short-lived this year, with the Commonwealth Games athletics action starting on Monday. Heptathletes Kate O’Connor and Anna McCauley will get their campaign underway at 9:10am on Tuesday morning.

Other Irish athletes representing Northern Ireland at the Games are Nick Griggs, James Gormley and Callum Morgan. You'll find a timetable of events, with details of when the Irish athletes are competing, on our championship page.

TNT Sports will broadcast the live action from the Games (also available on HBO Max, their streaming partner; subscription required) with extended highlights each day on Channel 5.

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.

After a successful afternoon in Ostrava on Tuesday, Irish athletes and fans turn their attentions to the next Continental Tour Gold meeting on the calendar, the FBK Games in Hengelo, where seven Irish athletes are due to compete, on Sunday.

The distance athletes will travel to Track Night Vienna and the Portland Track Festival, while the preliminary round of the National League and the National 5 Mile Championships take place at home, and a sprinkling of other meetings take place across Europe.

Continental Tour Gold, FBK Hengelo

The start lists for the FBK Games on Sunday look particularly exciting from an Irish perspective, with Cian McPhillips racing his first 800m since finishing fourth over the distance at the World Championships in Tokyo and Sharlene Mawdsley looking to continue her recent good run of form.

Darragh McElhinney and Nick Griggs will race over 5000m, while Cathal Doyle will continue his comeback from injury over 1500m. Orla Comerford is entered for the Para 100m, while Benjamine Richardson, who will be eligible to represent Ireland in August 2027, will race the 100m.

McPhillips won over 600m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston in late January before dental issues curtailed his season. The national 800m record holder already has the qualification standard for Birmingham, but will now look to add points for World Ultimate Championship qualification.

Mawdsley has run her three fastest times ever in her opening three 400m races of the season. Sub-50 is tantalisingly close, and achieving that may well be a valuable confidence booster ahead of Birmingham, where she’ll look to improve on her 8th-place finish last time out.

Both McElhinney and Griggs failed to finish their last 5000m – at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku on 3rd June – though Griggs has since won the Northern Irish 800m title and ran a 3:52.81 mile in Ostrava on Tuesday while McElhinney ran 3:40.64 to finish 5th in the 1500m in Marseille on 10th June.

Both already have the Auto Q for Birmingham, with Griggs also likely to be selected for the Commonwealth Games.

Doyle, like McPhillips, is making up for lost time. Top of his agenda will be securing qualification for Birmingham, having missed out on qualification last time out. He achieved the Athletics Ireland B standard when he ran 3:34.00 in Turku on 3rd June. The Auto Q is 3:33.50.

Comerford was an easy winner of the mixed-classification para 100m at the Diamond League in Oslo on 10th June. She ran a wind-assisted 11.78 (+2.8m/s) there and will be hopeful of a legal wind this time around.

Benjamin Richards, who will be eligible to represent Ireland in August 2027, will race the 100m, after running a 150m PB in Ostrava on Tuesday.

Edit: McElhinney has withdrawn from the 5000m.

Other Continental Tour meetings

Friday

Bori Akinola (100m) and Sarah Lavin (100m Hurdles) will get the weekend started at Anhalt Meeting in Dessau, Germany on Friday. While Lavin already has the qualification standard for Birmingham, and Akinola holds the B standard and a ranking well within quota, they’ll be looking to build form and confidence over the coming weeks.

Akinola opened his season with 10.20 (+1.0) and a PB of 10.19 (+2.0) in Stratford at the end of May, and got a taste of Continental Tour Gold action in Ostrava on Tuesday, where he finished 6th in 10.38 (+0.0).

Lavin opened her season in Taipei a fortnight ago with a moderate 13.36 (-1.9), and will be looking to get back to sub-13 form soon.

Saturday

Among those entered for Track Night Vienna, where the top races will be paced at Birmingham qualification times, are Cillian Kirwan (800m), Michael Murphy, Callum Morgan, Danielle Donegan (5000m) and Finley Daly (3000m Steeplechase).

Daly just missed the Athletics Ireland B standard of 8:35.00 when he finished second (8:35.65) at the British Milers Club Grand Prix in Birmingham last month. He is currently sitting just outside the quota spots.

Kirwan looked to have run a massive personal best at this meeting last year before it transpired that all but one of the 800m races used incorrect startlines for the runners in outer lanes, and the times were annulled. The national indoor champion will be hoping for better luck (and officiating) this time around.

The Athletics Ireland B standards of 13:20.00 and 15:22.00 are likely to be the target for those competing in the 5000m. Morgan came close when he ran 13:23.37 in Oordegem at the end of last season. Donegan’s best for the distance is the 16:06.12 she ran indoors in January, though she did run 15:54 on the roads a few weeks ago.

Kate Doherty is entered for both the 400m and 400m Hurdles at the ATX Classic in Georgetown, Texas. Doherty, events in which she has 53.90 and 59.20 personal bests, respectively, both set earlier this year.

Sunday

The startlists for the Portland Track Festival include Mark Milner (800m), James Dunne, Charlie O’Donovan, Maddie Mooney (1500m), Anika Thompson and Roisin Flanagan (5000m).

Dunne, who ran 3:38.05 in LA a week ago, and O’Donovan, who won the mile at the Penn Relays in April, will look to knock further time from their season’s bests, as will Mooney, who got very close to her two-year-old personal best when she ran 4:12.94 in Eugene last month.

The 15:22.00 Athletics Ireland B standard will likely be the target for Flanagan and Thompson, while Milner will be looking for a confidence-boosting run ahead of some races in Europe in the coming weeks.

Conor Cusack, who threw a PB of 75.83 at the European Throwing Cup in March, is competing at the Hylo Javelin Meeting in Offenburg, Germany, while Eric Favors will throw at the WGV Leichtathleticfestival in Stuttgart, Germany, his fourth competition in eight days.

Domestic action

The National League preliminary round will take place in Tullamore on Saturday. Forty-three club and country teams will battle for places in the national league finals on 9th August.

Attention on Sunday will turn to the roads, as the National 5 Mile Championships takes place in Dublin’s Phoenix Park.

Elsewhere

The rescheduled Doha Diamond League takes place on Friday. While many of the big names are missing and there are no Irish athletes, the presence of stars such as Neeraj Chopra (Javelin), Mutaz Essa Barshim (High Jump), Marileidy Paulino (400m), Cordel Tinch (110m Hurdles) and Soufiane El Bakkali (3000m Steeplechase) means that it’s still a must-watch meeting. Watch on Virgin Media Four or Virgin Media Player from 6-8pm.

Barry Keane, Oisín Ó Gailín and Orla O’Connor are on the elite startlist for the BAA 10km, a World Athletics Label race, in Boston on Sunday.

A small number of nations are holding their national championships over the weekend. You’ll find relevant links to watch and follow the British Championships on the TrackAthletes website.

The race for Road to Birmingham ranking points and B standards is well and truly on, but the focus this weekend for Northern Irish athletes will be on securing national titles and Commonwealth Games selection in the final days of Glasgow 2026 qualification.

Saturday is particularly busy, with Irish athletes in action at Continental Tour meetings in the UK, Malta, France, the Netherlands and the USA, along with Cat F meetings in Dublin and London. Depending on how Thursday goes at NCAAs in Eugene, the Irish women may also be contesting for national collegiate medals.

There are a small number of meetings with Irish interest on Sunday, with Irish athletes also likely to be competing at Continental Tour meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week.

NCAA Div I Nationals

Three Irish athletes will be competing for individual glory on the second day of the NCAA Division I Nationals in Eugene on Thursday, and while medals are unlikely, all three will be hoping to build on positive starts to 2026, and bolster their confidence ahead of this summer’s senior international championships.

Elizabeth Ndudi (long jump) and Maeve O’Neill (800m) broke national senior indoor records earlier in the year. Both have Athletics Ireland B standards for Birmingham, but are currently outside the quota spots.

They will be competing for ranking points in the weeks ahead, but Thursday’s challenge will be to perform at or above their current NCAA ranking status. O’Neill is ranked 16th in the NCAA and 13th of those competing; nine will make it to Saturday’s final. Ndudi is ranked 20th, and 13th of those competing.

Lauren Roy has already achieved the qualification standard for Birmingham in the 200m, the distance she will contest here, and is within quota, with the B standard, for the 100m. She also has Commonwealth Games consideration standards at both distances. Currently second on the Irish all-time lists for 100m and 200m, Roy is ranked =22nd of the 24 qualifiers, based on season’s best.

On Wednesday, Sean Aigboboh helped his University of Houston 4x100m relay team qualify for Friday’s final. They finished second in their heat, and recorded the third fastest time across the three heats.

Lucy-May Sleeman will also be racing in the 4x100m relay. Her Florida State University team race in the heats on Thursday. The final is on Saturday. They are ranked tenth.

Northern Ireland and Ulster Senior Championships

The Northern Ireland selection window for the 2026 Commonwealth Games will close at midnight on Sunday, and the team will be selected early next week. Before then, athletes have one final opportunity to achieve nomination standards, and to win an Ulster and Northern Ireland Senior Championships title.

If the start lists are anything to go by, some cracking races could be expected. Nick Griggs and James Gormley, who both hold qualification standards over the mile and 5000m, are entered in the 800m, alongside Andrew Thompson who did better the 800m standard last summer, but not in a World Athletics calendar meeting.

Callum Morgan, the third man who has bettered the 5000m nomination standard is entered for the 1500m, while the women’s 200m could see Arlene Crossan, Rachel McCann, Jenna Breen and Michelle Duggan go head-to-head, though Breen and Duggan are also entered in the 400m, and Crossan is also down for the 100m.

Anna McCauley, who, alongside Kate O’Connor, has exceeded the Heptathlon standard is entered for Javelin and Shot Put, while Finn O’Neill, who’ll be hoping for selection in the Decathlon, is entered in the Pole Vault and the Shot Put.

Other field event entries of note are in-form Discus Thrower Anna Gavigan, former national shot put record holder John Kelly, Ashleigh McCardle (Javelin and Shot Put) and Thomas Williams (Hammer Throw). Sommer Lecky is entered for the High Jump both here and at a competition in France also on Saturday. It’s unclear which she will do.

Elsewhere on Saturday

James Dunne is entered for the 1500m at the USATF Distance Classic, which is being held alongside the LA Grand Prix, a Continental Tour Gold meeting. Dunne continues to search for the form that saw him run 3:35.17 last May, before injury derailed his progress.

Lauren Callaghan and Sophie Meredith are both on the long jump startlist at Meeting Nikaia (Continental Tour Bronze). Both have jumped personal bests this season, and will be looking to continue their progress and pick up some ranking points.

Ruby Millet, who made a winning return to long jumping after an absence of almost three years, is entered for Gouden Spike (Continental Tour Challenger) in the Netherlands. She’ll be looking to at least replicate the 6.38m she jumped last weekend.

Fintan Dewhirst will be looking to build on the 51.93 he ran to win the IUAA Intervarsity 400m hurdles title in April when he takes to the start line at the EAP Malta International (Continental Tour Challenger). His personal best is 51.19 from May 2024, but he’ll also have his sights on the 50.81 PB his younger brother Ethan ran earlier this season.

This has already been a good summer for Irish female high jumpers, and both Sommer Lecky and Aoife O’Sullivan will look to exceed 1.80m when they take part in the Envol Trophee (Continental Tour Challenger) in France. Lecky, who has a best of 1.90m, cleared 1.79m in Granada earlier this month, while O’Sullivan, unbeaten in six competitions this year, has a season’s best of 1.78.

There are more than 30 Irish athletes on the start lists for the British Milers Club Grand Prix (Continental Tour Challenger) in Loughborough. Among them are Eimear Maher, Saoirse Fitzgerald, Jo-Lauren Keane and Callum Hurley who will compete over 800m, Niall Murphy, Amy O'Donoghue and Niamh Carr at 1500m and Jamie Battle and Ella Fennelly, both entered for 3000m.

Among those entered for the fifth Dublin Graded Meeting of the year are Orla Comerford, Mollie O’Reilly and Katie Bergin in the 200m, Conor Cusack in the Javelin and Eoin Sheridan and Michael Healy in the Discus Throw.

Two meetings in London on Saturday with Irish interest are the BFTTA Outdoor Series 3 meeting where Marcus Lawler, Max O’Reilly, Paul Costelloe and Cliodhna Manning are all entered, and The London 5000m, for which Diarmuid Fagan, Fennelly (also entered at Loughborough, see above), Emily Haggard-Kearney and Patricia Jackman hold an entry.

Benjamin Richardson, who will be eligible to represent Ireland in August 2027, is entered for both the 100m and 200m at the Dromia Sprint and Relays Meeting (Continental Tour Silver) in Greece.

A small number of athletes are also entered for the BAUHAUS Juniors-Gala in Mannheim.

Sunday's action

Sunday looks like a calmer day for fans, but those competing will be looking to generate a storm of their own.

Fresh from her 11.31 personal best in London on Tuesday, Ciara Neville will be racing for ranking points when she competes in the 100m at the Folksam Grand Prix in Sollentuna, Sweden, a Continental Tour Bronze meeting.

Eric Favors (Shot Put) and Niamh Fogarty (Discus) will be looking for some form in the throwing circles in Sollentuna. Favors, whose place at the European Championships looks secured, will now be looking to travel to Birmingham in the best shape possible.

Fogarty, however, has some work to do if she is to make her first major international as a senior. Her Irish record of 58.40m is further than the Athletics Ireland B standard of 57.80m, but she has yet to get close to that within the qualification window.

Clodagh Walsh is entered for Vault Manchester, while Daena Kealy is due to high jump at the BIG on Tour jumps meeting at the University of Birmingham.

Diamond League and Continental Tour meetings, NCAA regional qualifiers, All-Ireland schools championships, and the National Half Marathon Championships are just some of the places to spot Irish athletes this weekend.

Mark English will look to continue his winning ways as Andrew Coscoran opens his outdoor season at the Rabat Diamond League. Cathal Doyle, making his return after injury, and Nick Griggs, will race at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Bydgoszcz.

Sophie O’Sullivan, Darragh McElhinney, Jodie McCann, Laura Nicholson and John Kelly are on the startlist for the Trond Mohn Games in Bergin. Lauren Callaghan takes her fine recent form to Cyprus, and Emma Moore is due to compete in Forbach, France.

Alex O'Neill, Danielle Donegan, Andrew Thompson and Eric Favors are among those on Continental Tour Challenger startlists.

NCAA Division I athletes will continue their endeavour of making it to Eugene for the national finals, while several Irish athletes will look for fast times at the British Milers Club Grand Prix in Birmingham.

Future stars will be on display at the All-Ireland Schools Championships in Tullamore and the National Half Marathon titles will be decided in Cork

Diamond League

The Rabat Diamond League, live on Virgin Media Three from 7-9pm on Sunday, will round out the weekend’s action. Among the entries are Mark English, who two weeks ago became the first Irish man ever to win a Diamond discipline at a Diamond League meeting.

Among English’s opposition in the Moroccan capital will be 1.41 men Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Gabriel Tual, as well as four other athletes with personal bests faster than his. A second win would be a massive ask, but a solid pace could drag English into new territory time wise.

Coscoran has not raced since the World Indoors in March, where he focused on the 3000m. Here he’ll face seven sub-3:30 men, over 1500m, including the World Champion Isaac Nader, a somewhat surprise winner of a race in which Coscoran finished 12th.

The Star of the Sea A.C. athlete twice broke the national indoor record earlier this year. Could 2026 be the year he finally breaks the 3:30 mark outdoors?

Continental Tour Gold

Cathal Doyle will make his much-anticipated return to competition over 1500m at the Irena Szewińska Memorial, a Continental Tour Gold meeting, in Bydgoszcz on Friday, having struggled with injury over the winter months.

Among his opposition will be Nick Griggs, who suffered a somewhat unexpected defeat over the mile at the British Milers Club meeting in Belfast last weekend.

Continental Tour Silver

Irish interest at the Trond Mohn Games in Bergen includes Sophie O’Sullivan, Darragh McElhinney, Jodie McCann, Laura Nicholson and John Kelly.

McElhinney, who already has the Birmingham standard over 5000m and Sophie O’Sullivan, who has secured the 1500m standard, will be chasing some speed as they step down to 1500m and 800m respectively.

Unlike O’Sullivan, Jodie McCann and Laura Nicholson are still chasing the Athletics Ireland B standard, and valuable ranking points, in the 1500m. Both raced in Germany on Sunday, but a slow, tactical race meant they were unable to capitalise on the opportunity to race at this level.

John Kelly, former Irish shot put record holder, is looking to get back to the sort of form that took him beyond 20 metres in 2022. His best so far this season was the 18.19 he threw to win silver at the National Indoor Championships in March.

Continental Tour Bronze

Emma Moore made big strides during the indoor season, smashing her previous best over 800m. With European Championship qualification in mind, Forbach appears to be the first outdoor stop on the Road to Birmingham. Moore will be looking to improve her PB  to at least 2:00.95, the Athletics Ireland B standard for Birmingham, in the coming weeks.

While still early days, Lauren Callaghan is just a couple of spots outside the long jump quota for Birmingham. She opened her outdoor campaign with a fine 6.42 in Loughborough a fortnight ago, and will look to collect some of the valuable placing points on offer in Cyprus on Friday. She is also chasing the Athletics Ireland B standard of 6.55 metres.

Continental Tour Challenger

Some of the races at Saturday’s British Milers Club Grand Prix at the University of Birmingham hold Continental Tour Challenger (category D status), while others have gathered strong fields chasing fast times.

The women’s 5000m is particularly strong from an Irish perspective with Emily Haggard-Kearney, one of the silver-medal winning Irish team from last weekend’s European 10,000m Cup, is on the startlist alongside Danielle Donegan, Ella Fennelly, who last weekend ran 15:50.65, and others.

Callum Morgan, Louis O’Loughlin and Philip Marron are due to contest the men’s 1500m; Eimear Maher, Zoe Toland and Niamh Carr are in the women’s 1500m, and Finley Daly and Abbie Sheridan will contest their respective steeplechases.

Alex O'Neill (800m) and Donegan (5000m) are both entered for the Puma Notro Lange Laufnacht, though the latter is also entered for the BMC meeting mentioned above.

O’Neill got her outdoor campaign underway in Germany on Sunday, and will be looking to continue her push towards European Championship qualification.

Eric Favors, sitting comfortably in a Birmingham quota spot, is among the shot put entries for the Music City Track Carnival in Cleveland, TN.

Andrew Thompson will continue his quest for the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games consideration standard at the Triveneto Meeting Internazionale in Trieste on Saturday. Thompson did better the required 1:46.70 mark late last summer, but not in a race listed on the World Athletics calendar.

Aaron Keane is entered for the 200m at the Meeting National de Seine et Marne in France on Friday. The Tullamore Harrier has a best of 21.45 for the distance from last August.

Domestic action

The National Half Marathon Championships take place as part of the Cork Marathon on Sunday, where John Travers, Ryan Creech and Hannah Steed are among the leading entrants.

Before that, some of the future stars of Irish athletics will compete for All-Ireland schools titles in Tullamore. Among the names to look out for in the senior events there are national indoor pole vault champions Mikey Kent (who will also contest the Long Jump) and Meabh Corkery, and throwers Theo Hanlon (Shot Put) and Thomas Williams (Hammer).

Erin Friel, who recently made her senior debut at the world relays, will contest the 400m. National U20 400m hurdles record holder Ellis McHugh is due to compete in both the 400m hurdles, and the sprint hurdles where she will face national lead Orlaith Mannion. European Cross Country medallist Emma Hickey will race the 3000m, while Tara O’Connor is one of the names to look out for in the High Jump.

NCAA Division I Regional Qualifiers

More than two dozen Irish athletes will be competing in the Regional rounds of the NCAA Div I Championships this week. Action in Lexington, KY (East) and Fayetteville, AR (West) got underway on Thursday, with Sean Aigboboh, who has qualified for the next round of the 200m, the best of the Irish performances so far.

Aigboboh, along with Lauren Roy (100m, 200m), Lucy-May Sleeman (100m), Maeve O’Neill (800m), Oisin Spillane (3000m Steeplechase), Siún Quinn (High Jump) and Elizabeth Ndudi (Long Jump), are just some of the athletes to watch out for as they endeavour to qualify for the national finals in Eugene, OR next month.

Performances this weekend are likely to have a big impact on the Road to Birmingham rankings. Check out TrackAthletes.ie for all the relevant updates over the coming days.

A strong Irish contingent will take on the European 10,000m Cup in Italy this weekend, dozens will flock to Brussels for the two-day IFAM Continental Tour Bronze meeting, others will take part in continental tour meetings in the USA, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Germany.

There is a strong entry for the Leinster Senior, Masters and U20 Championships, as well as the British Milers Club Meeting in Belfast. Dundrum South Dublin will compete in both the men’s and the women’s competitions at the European Champion Clubs Cup in Spain.

And there is Irish interest on the final day of the NAIA Championships in the US, at the World Race Walking Tour Gold meeting in Spain and at least three meetings across the spring bank holiday weekend in England.

European 10,000m Cup

The 2025 edition of this annual continental event was a memorable one as Efrem Gidey cruised to the men’s title, and in doing so won Ireland’s first European 10,000m Cup medal.

Efrem won’t be back to defend his title, but a number of individuals within the squad will be chasing qualification for this summer’s European Championships in Birmingham, as well as having team aspirations.

The women’s team looks particularly strong, with Niamh Allen and Fiona Everard looking to convert the form they’ve shown on the roads and the cross country already this year, to the 25-lap track event. Emily Haggard-Kearney and Sorcha Nic Dhomhnaill add further firepower. Patricia Jackman and Faye Dervan complete the team.

Allen finished 21st at the World Cross Country in January, and has been setting course records on the roads of Cork, and beyond, in recent weeks. This will be her first 10,000m race on the track, but fine runs over 3000m and 5000m last summer suggest that her talents aren’t confined to the roads and the country.

Everard was the first woman home at the 10km de Saint Medard en Jalles in France at the end of March. Her winning time there was 31:58, faster than the Auto Q for Birmingham, but while times for road races can count, for women they must be set in women’s only races.

Haggard-Kearney, with an official best of 32:51 on the roads (she ran 32:01 at the Trafford 10km, an event not listed on the World Athletics Calendar, earlier this year), and Nic Dhomhnaill, who ran 32:24 at the Valencia 10km in January, also have the potential to set new marks on the track, and contend for a spot in Birmingham.

Callum Morgan, already an established underage international, will be racing his first 10,000m, after breaking the Northern Irish 10km record with 28:08 in Valencia. Morgan has already secured the Northern Ireland 5000m consideration standard for the Commonwealth Games, but his presence at this event suggests that he also has at least one eye on Birmingham too.

Oisín Ó Gailín made his Irish senior debut at this event last year, where he finished 7th in the B Final (29:02.05). Michael Murphy and Jamie Battle, both making their Irish senior debuts, complete the team

Any athlete who doesn’t hit the qualification standard (auto Q), could still make the Birmingham team by ranking. To do so, they would need to hit the Athletics Ireland B standard (28:30 for men; 32:55 for women) and have a ranking, based on their best two performances, at least one of which needs to be run on the track, during the qualification window.

European U23 champion Anika Thompson is currently the only Irish woman on the road to Birmingham list for 10,000m. She is ranked 43rd, with 27 spots available, but has secured the B standard. The battle for places on the men’s side is likely to be fierce. Gidey already has the Auto standard, as does Jack O’Leary. Four others have achieved the B standard.

IFAM: Brussels Bonanza

There are just over 100 Irish athletes on the entry list for the 2-day IFAM meeting in Brussels (Continental Tour Bronze). Among them are Sharlene Mawdsley, entered for both the 200m and 400m, Sophie Becker (400m), Irish U23 steeplechase record holder Ava O’Connor, Luke McCann continuing his injury return over 800m, and Arlene Crossan, who will look to bring her recent relay form to the 400m Hurdles.

IFAM is often a breakthrough meeting for many athletes, and among the emerging athlete names to look out for are Craig Duffy, who was in flying form at the IUAA Championships last month, Erin Friel (200m, 400m), Niall Murphy (5000m) and Abbie Sheridan (3000m steeplechase).

Other European meetings

If the number of Irish competitors in Brussels looks a little lower than last year, that may well be because a number of athletes are competing elsewhere over the weekend, including at other Continental Tour meetings.

Biggest of these is the Internationales Pfingstsportfest Rehlingen, a Continental Tour Silver meeting in Germany on Sunday. Jodie McCann, Eimear Maher and Laura Nicholson are all in the 1500m field, and they will be looking for a fast time and big ranking points towards European Championship qualification.

With PBs in the 4:07-4:08 range, all three are within touch of the Athletics Ireland B standard of 4:07.00 for Birmingham, the minimum required for selection. Nicholson is currently within quota on ranking, but lots will change over the coming weeks.

Alex O’Neill, another with Birmingham aspirations is on the 800m startlist and Mark Smyth has been added to the 100m field.

Andrew Egan (200m) and Conor Cusack (Javelin) are among the entries of the Pfingstmeeting (CT Challenger) in Switzerland on Saturday. Irish Half Marathon record holder Fearghal Curtin is entered for the Spåret 5000m (CT Challenger) in Sweden on Saturday. His best for the distance is 13:34.44 from 2023. Niamh Fogarty, Irish Discus record holder, will compete at the Sæby Wind Challenge (Cat F) in Denmark.

Oisin Lane and Aisling Lane are both on the 10km startlists for the Gran Premio Internacional de Marche Cantones de A Coruña in Spain on Saturday.

Ireland will be represented by DSD in both the men’s and women’s section of the European Champion Clubs Cup in Castellón, Spain. Among the star performers named in their team are Mollie O’Reilly (100m), Ciarán Carthy (400m), Amy O’Donoghue (800m), Paul O’Donnell (3000m), Megan Ryan (5000m), and Kate Doherty (400m Hurdles).

Closer to home

Nick Griggs (Mile) is the star name on the Belfast BMC startlist. It was at this event last year Griggs made his return from injury, running 3:55.97 in wet conditions. His best for the distance is 3:52.42 from Morton Games last July.

There are plenty of other names to look out for, including Ava O’Connor and Zoe Toland in the women’s mile, and Pia Langton and Emma Moore, who’ll be looking to continue their strong starts to 2026 in the women’s 800m.

Oisín Lynch, Callum Hurley and Robert Hewison are among a particularly strong men’s 800m lineup, while Louis O’Loughlin, Amy Greene and Roise Roberts are expected to race over 3000m.

There is lots of talent to watch out for at the Leinster Senior Championships in Carlow (SETU), particularly in the men’s sprints, men’s walk, and the field events.

Max O’Reilly, Adam Murphy, Mark Smyth and Marcus Lawler could face off over 200m, though Symth, as mentioned above, is now on the Rehlingen startlist. O’Reilly and sprint hurdler Adam Nolan are also entered in the shorter sprint.

Matthew Callinan Keenan (Pole Vault), Sam Healy (Long Jump), Saragh Buggy (Long Jump and Triple Jump), Sophie Meredith (Long Jump) and Eoin Sheridan (Discus Throw) are among those to watch out for in the field.

Matthew Glennon, Joe Mooney and David Kenny are all entered in the 5000m walk while Cliodhna Manning is down for the 100m and 200m.

Across the Atlantic

Irish 100m record-holder Israel Olatunde is on the startlist for both the 100m and 200m at the PURE Athletics Spring Invitational in Clermont, FL (Cat F), where Shane Howard is due to contest the Long Jump. Eric Favors will compete at the Throws U Series #3 event in Fleetwood.

Maddie Mooney (800m), James Dunne and Ronan McMahon-Staggs (both 1500m) and Roisin Flanagan (5000m) are on the startlist for the LA Track Festival, while Rory Devaney (Hammer) and Kate Joyce (Javelin) will compete at the Tucson Elite Throws (CT Silver) meeting on Saturday. Both meetings hold Continental Tour silver status.

There will also be Irish interest on the final day of the NAIA Championship on Friday. After cruising through Thursday’s heats, Nathan Cremin will race in the 800m final. Heather Murphy, who won the 10,000m title on Thursday is also entered for Friday’s 5000m final, though weather delays earlier in the week means she has had a day less than scheduled to recover.

Elsewhere, Charlie O’Donovan, fresh off his Penn Relays win, is the fastest entry for the mile at the Down the Stretch Track Fest (Cat F).

Looking ahead to midweek, 23 Irish athletes in individual events, plus two others named on relay squads, are declared for the preliminary rounds of the NCAA Division I Championships, which will start on Wednesday in Lexington, KY (East Regionals) and Fayetteville, AR (West Regionals). The top 12 athletes in each region will qualify for the National finals in Eugene in early June.

And in the UK

Mikey Kent (Long Jump) and Theo Hanlon (Shot Put), who both broke Leinster Schools championship records during the week, are entered for the BIGish Jumps and throws Fest in Bedford on Monday, along with Daena Kealy who made an impressive return to high jump action last Sunday and Cian Crampton (Discus), who missed the spring with a foot injury.

The popular Stratford Speed meetings in London have a reputation for producing fast times, and among the Irish athletes looking to impress at the first of this year’s series are Bori Akinola (100m, 200m), Paul Costelloe (100m, 200m), Michael Farrelly (100m), Ciara Neville (100m), Aisling Kelly (100m, 200m), Katie Bergin (100m), Sophie Becker (200m) and Hugo Magee (200m, 400m).

A small number of Irish athletes are also entered for the Comeback 5000m in London on Saturday.

Diamond in the rough

Finally, the second round of the 2026 Diamond League will take place in Xiamen, China, on Saturday. There are no Irish competitors, but plenty to interest athletics fans. The event will be shown live on Virgin Media Two from 12:00-14:00.

An eleven-strong Irish team will travel to the twenty-second edition of the World Indoor Championships in Toruń, Poland, this weekend, with serious medal aspirations.

Kate O’Connor, who won silver in the Pentathlon last time out, will look to at least emulate that performance, but others, too, have outside medal chances.

Below are mini-profiles of each of the Irish athletes participating, with details on their current form, Road to Toruń journey, and what they may need to do to qualify for this summer's major championships.

All sessions of the World Indoor Championships will be shown live on Virgin Media. The broadcast schedule, links to startlists and live results, and an Irish-specific timetable can be found on TrackAthletes.ie.

A few Irish athletes will open their outdoor season at collegiate events in the US this weekend. Meetings with Irish interest will be added to the TrackAthletes calendar page as startlists become available.

Lauren Roy

Lauren Roy (women's 60m) comes into the World Indoors in the form of her life, having run 7.19 for 60m (=2nd Irish all-time), the distance she will race this weekend, and 22.89 (2nd Irish all-time) over 200m already this year.

Roy surpassed the Athletics Ireland B standard for Toruń when she ran 7.25 on 17 January, a time that would ultimately have been good enough to make the cutoff, but she ensured her selection when she bettered the 7.20 automatic standard in Spokane on 27 February.

Roy was a member of the Irish 4x100m team that broke the national 4x100m relay record at the Diamond League meeting in London last July. She was also part of the relay team at the 2022 World Championship in Eugene, and was on the squad that won 4x100m relay silver at the 2018 World U20 Championship.

Roy competed at the European Indoor Championship in Glasgow in 2019 (also over 60m), has twice represented Ireland at the European Team Championships, and went close to making the 200m final at last summer’s FISU World University Games.

She has already surpassed the 200m Athletics Ireland B standard for this summer’s European Championships and is close to the automatic qualification standard of 22.85. She will also look to make the Northern Ireland team for the Commonwealth Games this summer.

Ciara Neville

Ciara Neville (women's 60m) bridges a five-year gap when she returns to Toruń, the site of her last major championships – the European Indoors – in 2021. She went close to making the Olympics later that year and, in the process, suffered a serious hamstring injury that later required surgery.

It’s taken Neville a long time to return to the form of 2021, and to build on the promise shown when she made the World Indoor Championships in 2017 as a 17-year old, and as a member of the silver-medal-winning 4x100m team at the 2018 World U20 Championships.

But the reigning National 60m and 100m champion will go into Saturday morning’s 60m heats off the back of an incredibly consistent indoor season. She improved her nine-year-old 7.30 personal best to 7.28, then 7.27, then 7.26 this year, and equalled or surpassed the 7.30 Athletics Ireland B standard on five occasions. Indeed, the 7.35 she ran in the heats of the National Indoors is the slowest she’s gone all season.

Neville’s indoor runs – two of which can count for 100m ranking purposes – together with her National senior win last August, give her a good start on the Road to Birmingham. She will next need to run the Athletics Ireland B standard of 11.35 or quicker and be ranked within the top 36 in Europe to make that team. A run of 11.18, the Automatic standard, or faster would all but guarantee selection.

Bori Akinola

Bori Akinola (men's 60m) is the reigning National 100m and National Indoor 60m Champion, as well as the national 60m record holder.

Akinola was undefeated in his six races in January, including World Indoor Tour wins in Lyon and Glasgow. In February, he added the national record (6.54) and a second-place finish at the World Indoor Tour gold meeting in Belgrade, before retaining his national title and finishing third at the World Indoor Tour silver meeting in Berlin earlier this month.

He was a member of the Irish 4x100m relay team that broke a 25-year-old national record last summer, but a niggle in warm-up meant that he missed out when the team further upgraded the mark a week later.

Having competed with the relay team at the European Championships in Rome in 2024, Akinola made his individual debut in the 60m at the European Indoors in Apeldoorn last year, where he finished 11th overall.

The UCD AC athlete already has the Athletics Ireland B standard for the European Championships over 100m, and his performances in Belgrade and Berlin give him a healthy foundation on which to build his ranking points. He currently sits 16th on the Road to Birmingham, and a final position within the top 36 would likely see him selected. The relay team, currently ranked ninth, also looks likely to qualify.

Mark English

Mark English (men's 800m) started the year with a new national 600m record, and followed it shortly after with two new marks over 800m. He hasn’t, however, raced since finishing third and breaking the national record in the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava on 3 February, having sat out the National Indoors with a niggle.

English has a stunning record at European level, adding indoor bronze in 2025 to the medals he won in 2019 (bronze) and 2015 (silver), and the bronze medals he won outdoors in 2022 and 2014. He has yet to make a global final indoors or out.

English bagged the Auto Q for Toruń in his first 800m of the season in Luxembourg on 18 January, and has had the qualification standard for the European Championships since 12 August last year. Not having to chase times or ranking points affords English the chance to arrive at the main events ready to contend.

English is ranked fifth in the field based on personal bests, and in the absence of World Record holder Josh Hoey, will be looking to finally make his mark on the world stage.

Maeve O’Neill

Maeve O’Neill (women's 800m) has been in scintillating form all winter, running 1:28.09 for 600m in early December, and 2:41.07 for 1,000m in early January before running 2:01.96 for 800m, an outright PB, in late January. She further improved her 800m PB - and the national indoor record -with 2:00.33 on 22 February.

Toruń will be the senior international debut for the Cork athlete, who this past weekend just missed out on the final of the NCAA Division I Indoor Championships. O’Neill won bronze at the Irish National Senior Championships last summer, but her 2026 performances to date have elevated her to the top echelon of Irish 800m running.

O’Neill has the Athletics Ireland B standard secured for this summer’s European Championships and will spend the coming months collecting ranking points and/or chasing the 1:59.80 Automatic qualification standard alongside her college racing commitments in the US. Sub-2 will, no doubt, also be on her mind.

Emma Moore

Emma Moore (women's 800m) will be making her senior international debut in Toruń after starting the season with a bang. She solo ran a 2:02.39 in Abbotstown on 17 December and looked at home when racing her first World Indoor tour meeting in Luxembourg a month later.

Moore secured the Athletics Ireland B standard for Toruń and further lowered her personal best and broke the National U23 record (since lowered by O’Neill) when she ran 2:01.21 at the NIA on 28 January, and got a taste of World Indoor Tour Gold racing in Ostrava a week later.

The Galway native will need to run 2:00.95 (the Athletics Ireland B standard) or faster to qualify for this summer’s European Championships in Birmingham, something that looks well within her capabilities based on early-season form, as well as gain enough ranking points to be within the quota spots. Her runs from Ostrava and Luxembourg will have helped greatly on that front.

Achieving the 1:59.80 automatic qualifier would, of course, negate the need for ranking points, though given the depth of middle-distance talent in Ireland, there may well be more than three athletes in contention for the spots come August. An exciting summer lies ahead.

James Gormley

James Gormley (men's 1500m) transferred allegiance to Ireland in 2024, having previously represented Great Britain at junior level, and made the Irish team over 3000m for both European Indoors and World Indoors in 2025.

This time round, he races the 1500m, having secured the Athletics Ireland B standard for that event, en route to the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games consideration standard for the mile, in Boston in February. The time he ran that day - 3:53.38 – places him inside the top 10 on the Irish all-time list indoors.

With the Commonwealth Games mark secured for both 1500m and 5000m, Gormley may turn his attention to making the team for the European Championships, where places in both distances will be hotly contested.

The respective Athletics Ireland B standards for Birmingham are 3:35.25  and 13:20.00, but faster may well be needed to make the team. Gormley’s bests are 3:36.25 from 2024 and 13:26.24 indoors earlier this year, but if his indoor form is anything to go by, then improving them should be a formality.

Andrew Coscoran

By 8 February, Andrew Coscoran (men's 3000m) had already run a 3000m, a mile and a 1500m split that were second only, in terms of Irish all-time performances indoors, to his own national records. He later upgraded the Irish 1500m record, with 3:33.09 and third place in Liévin.

Coscoran achieved the automatic standard for the 1500m and the 3000m in Toruń, and contested both distances at last year’s World Indoors. However, after getting the nod from the selectors, he has opted to contest just the longer distance this time.

He is ranked third in the World this year, and second in the entered field based on season’s bests, though canny racers Josh Kerr, Cole Hocker and Geordie Beamish are also in the field. Concoran will be looking to improve on his sixth place from last year, but such is the quality of the field that he could run the race of his life and leave with nothing.

Despite making the World 1500m final in September, Coscoran had to wait until 19 February to secure his first Auto Q for this summer’s European Championships. He competed in both the 1500m and the 5000m in Tokyo, and may again seek qualification over the longer distance.

His 3000m performance from January and his national 5000m win last August give him a head start on the Road to Birmingham, but the Athletics Ireland B standard of 13:20 will also need to be achieved if he has any chance of earning one of the three hotly-contested spots available.

Nick Griggs

This winter, Nick Griggs (men's 3000m) achieved two things that had, to that point, remained elusive, as he took his first European individual cross country title in December and won his first national senior title earlier this month. The world now, it seems, is his oyster.

He will, however, face formidable opposition if he is to go anywhere near adding his first senior international medal in Toruń, as he lines up for what must be one of the deepest 3000m fields in World Indoor history.

Griggs achieved the automatic standard for Toruń when finishing fourth behind Coscoran in Boston in January, and he secured his spot when winning the national title on 1 March. The time he ran in Boston - 7:32.79 - was a new national U23 record and moved him to second on the Irish all-time list.

Griggs has competed for Ireland at two senior championships before now – both outdoors and both over 1500m. He’ll be looking to make his first Indoor major a memorable one.

He has the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games consideration standard for both the mile and the 5000m, and the automatic standard for the European Championships over the longer distance.

Sarah Lavin

Sarah Lavin (60m hurdles) travels to Toruń off the back of an eighth National Indoor title. She achieved the automatic standard in her first outing of the year with the 7.98 she ran when finishing second in Paris on 25th January. This is still her fastest race of the season, but if anyone knows how to show up in form for a championship, it’s Lavin.

She is a permanent fixture in the Irish team these days, and has competed at every major championship, indoors and out, since 2021 (two Olympics, three World Championships, two European Championships, three European Indoor Championships and, after this weekend, four World Indoor Championships).

She finished fourth at the European Indoors last March and was fifth at the World Indoors in 2024. She’d desperately love to turn her consistency into silverware. The national indoor record, too, must surely one day be hers.

Lavin secured the European Championship standard at the World Championships last summer. Her performances with the record-breaking 4x100m relay team have put them in with a good chance of also qualifying for Birmingham.

Kate O’Connor

Kate O'Connor barely needs an introduction these days. Having won medals at the European Indoors, World Indoors, World University Games and World Championships in 2025, as well as adding big chunks to her national Pentathlon and national Heptathlon records, she carries medal expectations into Sunday’s event.

The Louth athlete started her year with personal bests in the two events she’s competed in thus far. She won the National Indoor long jump title with a first-round jump of 6.50m, a performance which places her third on the Irish all-time list, and gave Sarah Lavin a closer run than she’s used to in the national 60m hurdles title race.

O’Connor has already secured the Northern Ireland consideration standard for the Commonwealth Games and the Automatic Standard for the European Championships. The heptathlon at the later starts just 16 days after the heptathlon finishes, but with both events taking place in the UK, it may be an easier back-to-back challenge than on other occasions.

Before then, however, there’s a World Indoor title on the line. Anna Hall, the World Heptathlon champion, will start as favourite, but O’Connor, obviously in the form of her life, looks set to challenge. Just how much can she add to her Irish record – which currently stands at 4781 – in the process?

The Irish National Senior Indoor Championships takes centre stage this weekend, but Irish athletes will also be in action at Conference Championships in the US, on the roads in Japan and outdoors in Hobart.

With just over a week left in the qualification period for the World Indoors, Irish athletes hoping to compete there will have half an eye on the ranking lists for Toruń, and some may even be targeting B standards over the weekend.

National Indoor Championships

The 38th edition of the Irish Senior Indoor Championships will take place at the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Abbotstown on Saturday and Sunday.

Among the athletes expected to headline the event is defending 60m champion and newly minted national record holder Bori Akinola, who has already secured the Auto Q for the World Indoor Championships.

The men’s middle-distance races are again packed with intrigue, and the 1500m and 3000m promise to be close battles, irrespective of which event the main contenders decide to do.

Both national 1500m, mile and 3000m national record holder Andrew Coscoran, and European U23 Cross Country Champion Nick Griggs are entered for the 1500m and 3000m. Coscoran has the standard for World Indoors in both events, while Griggs – who is still looking for his first national senior title – has the standard over the longer distance.

Darragh McElhinney has the B standard for the 3000m, and he’s entered to race over that distance on Sunday, as is the ever-improving Callum Morgan. Luke McCann and James Dunne will continue their return from injury over the metric mile.

Mark English, who has broken the national indoor 600m and 800m records in 2026 will look to add another national 800m title to his tally, while Emma Moore will be the likely favourite in the women’s 800m.

Ciara Neville is one of three Irish athletes with the Athletics Ireland B standard in for Toruń in the women's 60m, but with the other two in college in the US, she’ll start as red-hot favourite on Sunday, as will Sarah Lavin, who has the World Indoor standard, in the sprint hurdles on Saturday.

Sharlene Mawdsley looked very impressive when she opened her season over 400m last week, and she’ll look to win a third consecutive title over the distance on Sunday.

Ireland’s top female multi-eventers – Kate O’Connor and Anna McCauley – are both entered for a few events over the weekend. O’Connor, who has already secured her spot in Torun will compete over 60m hurdles and long jump, while McCauley is entered for the hurdles, long jump and shot put.

Eric Favors (shot put), Aoife O’Sullivan (high jump) and Lauren O’Callaghan (long jump) will look to add to their growing resumes in the field events, while the men’s long jump could be head-to-head between Leevale pair Reece Ademola (who is yet to open his season) and Sam Healy.

The women’s triple jump will have its first winner not named Saragh Buggy since 2015.

See the Athletics Ireland website and other media sources for in-depth previews.

The event will be broadcast on Virgin Media 2 on Sunday from 2:30-4:30pm, with Athletics Ireland YouTube streams across both days.

Take part in Fantasy National Indoors here

NCAA Conference Championships

Three of the Irish records set in 2026 (Maeve O’Neill, 800m; Diarmuid O’Connor, Heptathlon; Elizabeth Ndudi, Long Jump) and other breakthroughs (Lauren Roy, 60m and 200m) have come from athletes based in the NCAA system.

Most, if not all, of these athletes are competing for their universities in the NCAA Conference Championships this week.

Athletes qualify for NCAA nationals by being in the top 16 performances across the nation during the season. Roy, O’Neill and Ndudi all look likely to qualify, while Abdel Laadjel is currently sitting just outside the qualification spots in the men’s 5000m.

Elsewhere

Laura Nicholson has spent the winter training in Australia, and has already picked up a win in New Zealand and potentially valuable World Ranking points in Perth, Australia. She will line up in the 3000m at the Hobart Track Classic on Saturday.

Irish record holder Fearghal Curtin is among the elite entries for the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday. Curtin broke the national record last October when winning the Gyeongju International Marathon in South Korea in 2:07:54.

While there are no World Indoor Tour gold meetings this weekend, it will still be a very big one for Irish athletes, particularly in the USA, where it’s the final big weekend of pre-championship college meetings.

Rhasidat Adeleke is likely to open her season in the USA, Luke McCann will continue his comeback in Germany, and Laura Nicholson will race outdoors in Australia. 

The distance athletes will seek fast times at Boston University, the Sound Invite and elsewhere, collegiate-based sprinters and field eventers compete at Fayetteville and elsewhere, and the marathon men take on Seville.

Domestic action will be in the form of the National League final on Saturday and the National Intermediate and Masters Cross Country on Sunday.

Rhasidat’s return?

Rhasidat Adeleke, who hasn’t raced since July last year, appears on the startlists for two meetings in the US this weekend.

She is down for the 60m at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, NM, where she set the current national record for 60m (7.15a) and 200m (22.49a) in 2024, and the 300m at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, AR, a World Indoor Tour silver event. Both races are on Saturday, so she won’t be doing both.

Other Irish athletes scheduled to compete at the Tyson Invitational are Conor Kelly (400m), Elizabeth Ndudi (Long Jump) and Siún Quinn (High Jump).

Distance athletes chasing times in the US

Four Irish athletes are set to compete in the professional races at the Sound Invite in Winston-Salem, NC, which also carries World Indoor Tour silver status. After winning his race in impressive fashion in Boston two weeks ago, Darragh McElhinney will have another crack at the World Indoor qualifying time of 8:33.00

With just two places available, and Andrew Coscoran and Nick Griggs already after securing the standard, the standard is most likely needed. James Gormley, who raced at World Indoors last year, will likely also be chasing the standard.

Ronan McMahon-Staggs will race the Mile, while Hannah Segrave is down to contest the 800m.

A healthy contingent of Irish athletes are also due to compete at the David Hemery Valentine Invite at Boston University. Among them are Jack O’Leary, who would love to add the European 5000m standard (13:08.00) to the one he’s already secured over 10,000m; Abdel Laadjel who is on the 3000m startlist; Maeve O’Neill who has recently made big improvements over 800m and Cillian Kirwan, also 800m.

Other Irish entries include Oisín Lynch, Finn Boyle, Gemma Galvin, Claire Crowley (all 800m), Emmy Thornton (1000m), Louis O'Loughlin, Oisín Ó Gailín, Seán Donoghue, Liam Lyons, Seán Cronin, Cara Laverty, Nicole Dinan (Mile), Jack Fenlon, Charlie O'Donovan, Ava O'Connor, Roisin Treacy (3000m), Ryan McCarthy (3000m, 5000m), Claragh Keane, Grace Richardson (5000m).

Three of the Adams State crew appear to be using the weekend as preparation for upcoming championships as Louis O'Loughlin (800m), Oisín Lynch (Mile) and Ava O'Connor (Mile) are also scheduled to compete at the Harvard Crimson Open and Elite meeting across the weekend.

The men compete at Boston, MA on Friday and down the road in Cambridge, MA on Saturday, and the women are scheduled the other way round (Cambridge on Friday and Boston on Saturday), so such doubles are logistically doable.

Other US collegiate action

Diarmuid O’Connor, who recently broke his own Heptathlon record, is scheduled to compete in the 60m Hurdles and the High Jump at Harvard Crimson on Saturday.

Sean Aigboboh, who had a big breakthrough over 200m last weekend is down to compete over 60m at Howie Ryan on Friday.

The ever-consistent Lucy-May Sleeman is entered for both 60m and 200m at Tiger Paw Invitational across Friday and Saturday.

Victoria Amiadamen, who was Ireland’s fastest over 400m hurdles last season, will compete over 400m at the Jarvis Scott Invit in Lubbock, TX on Friday.

Sixteen more athletes have been added to the TrackAthletes NCAA/NAIA database this week, thanks to the help of Killian Lonergan/Athletics Ireland, which means even more collegiate meetings to follow. Check out the NCAA page for more information, and let us know of any further errors or omissions.

Nicholson Down Under

Larua Nicholson won her first race of the year over the mile in New Zealand three weeks ago, but will face much stiffer opposition as she takes on the Australians over 1500m at the Continental Tour Bronze meeting in Perth on Saturday.

European action

Luke McCann will continue his return to racing over 800m at Erfurt Indoor in Germany on Friday night.

John Kelly (Shot Putt), is among the entries at Aadax Locked-In, a World Indoor Tour Challenger event, in Sweden on Sunday.

Paul O'Donnell, Ryan Creech, William Maunsell and David Mansfield are among the elite entries for the Seville Marathon on Sunday morning.

Closer to home

Michael Alajiki (Triple Jump), Rachel McCann (200m, 400m) and Jenna Breen (400m) are among the entries for the British University Indoor Championships, which take place in Sheffield from Friday to Sunday. As countries are incorrectly assigned to many athletes on the entry system, we may have missed others.

Marcus Lawler (200m), Conor Callinan (Pole Vault), Sam Healy (Long Jump), Eoin Sheridan (Shot Put), Mark Smyth (60m) and Molly Scott (60m Hurdles) are among the athletes named in their teams for the National League Final which will take place in Abbotstown on Saturday.

It is easy to be blinded by the numbers as the indoor season blasted out of the blocks, so to speak, records tumbled and qualifications standards were set left, right and centre.

But January 2026 must surely be remembered foremost for the breakthrough performances by Irish athletes at the World Cross Country Championships, with all three senior athletes finishing in the top 25 in Tallahassee.

World Cross Country Championships

Brian Fay in 16th, Niamh Allen in 21st, Fiona Everard 23rd; it’s been a long time since three Irish athletes finished in the top 25 in senior races at the World Cross Country Championships. Twenty-four years, in fact, and, on that occasion, four athletes finished in the top 25 in the now-discontinued short-course races.

Brian Fay’s 16th place was the best result by an Irish athlete at this level since Fionnuala McCormack finished 14th in the women’s race in 2013, and the best result for an Irish man since Alistar Cragg finished 16th in the short course race in 2004.

Noah Harris went with the early pace in the U20 men’s race, and was just half a lap short of also returning a great result. He was inside the top 20 going onto the final lap, but faded over the final stages to finish 38th.

National records

Mark English broke his own Irish records over both 600m (1:15.80) and 800m (1:44.65) in the space of five days. The former was essentially a solo run at the NIA, the later on the way to an impressive WIT silver win in Luxembourg.

Efrem Gidey was another to break his own Irish record, as he ran 27:38 in Valencia, the site of his previous best 12 months ago. He was pushed all the way by Jack O’Leary, who also dipped under the previous mark.

Diarmuid O’Connor added two points to his own national heptathlon performance with 5596 in Philadelphia.

Elizabeth Ndudi added 1cm to Kelly Propper’s national long jump record with 6.63, just short of her own outdoor record of 6.68m.

Sarah Leahy also bettered the best time recorded for 50m, with 6.41in Switzerland.

Among the numerous age-group records set in January were new U23 marks for Nick Griggs at both 3000m (7:32.79) and 5000m (13:19.90); an U23 800m record for Emma Moore (2:01.21) and a new U23 mark for Liam Lyons over 1000m (2:21.16). Ndudi’s aforementioned long jump mark was also a national U23 record.

More stats

World Indoor qualification standards

With qualification only opening in November, no Irish athletes had officially secured the standard for the World Indoors coming into 2026, though ranked second in the heptathlon, Kate O’Connor is already guaranteed qualification.

By the month’s end Bori Akinola (60m), English (800m), Griggs (3000m), Andrew Coscoran (3000m) and Sarah Lavin (60m Hurdles) had hit the World Athletics qualification standards.

Ciara Neville and Lauren Roy (60m), Moore and Maeve O’Neill (800m), and Ndudi (Long Jump) also bettered the Athletics Ireland B standard and, at the time of writing, are all currently within quota spots for the championships.

Irish athletes on Road to Toruń

European qualification standards

Unsurprisingly, it’s been a quieter month for European Championship qualification, though O’Leary secured the standard for the 10,000m, courtesy of his run in Valencia.

Ndudi (Long Jump) and Roy (200m) also secured Athletics Ireland B standards, which would make them eligible to be selected should they finish within quota spots based on world rankings for their respective events. Some of the sprinters, including Bori Akinola and Ciara Neville, are quietly adding to their ranking scores thanks to their fine recent form over 60 metres.

Irish athletes on Road to Birmingham

World tour events

Cian McPhillips was a clear winner of the 600m at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston, the only WIT Gold meeting in January. Andrew Coscoran finished second in the 3000m at the same meeting and just missed the Irish record he set when winning this race in 2025. Griggs was fourth, Brian Fay 10th and James Dunne set the pace, in a race won by Australian emerging star Cameron Myers.

In addition to the WIT Silver meeting win for English in Luxembourg, Moore finished second, also at 800m in Luxembourg, while Sarah Lavin finished second in the 60m hurdles at the silver meeting in Paris. Bronze wins went to Akinola (60m) in Lyon and Lauren Callaghan (long jump) in Nantes. Akinola and Callaghan went on to set personal bests and take Challenger wins in Glasgow, where Niamh Carr added the mile win to the 2000m win she picked up the previous week at a Challenger meeting in Portugal.

Laura Nicholson won the mile at the Continental Tour Bronze meeting in Whanganui, New Zealand. Elsewhere, Darragh McElhinney got his season off to a good start with an impressive win over 3000m in Boston (Cat F meeting), though it looks like he’d need to go second on the Irish all-time list to secure a spot at the World Indoors, unless Coscoran opts to only contest the 1500m.

National titles

Laura Frawley (Nenagh Olympic) retained the national pentathlon title, while Mohammed Ibrahim Halil (Raheny) took the heptathlon title. The mixed 4x400m relay title went to Ratoath AC.

And if you thought January was busy, wait until you see what February has in store!

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.

The World Indoor Tour cracks into life this weekend as the first Gold meeting of the season takes place in Boston. Four Irish athletes will compete there, as well as others in Silver, Bronze and Challenger meetings across the globe.

It’s another busy weekend of US college meetings, there’s a very strong entry for the guest races at the first round of the National Indoor League. And some athletes will take to the roads.

Friday Night Lights

European U23 1500m bronze medallist Eimear Maher looked in great form when she came home second on the opening leg of the mixed relay at the European Cross Country Championships in December. She will race the 1500m at Meeting Internacional Catalunya de Pista Coberta (World Indoor Tour Challenger) in Sabadell this evening. The Auto Q for the World indoors is 4:06.00, while the Athletics Ireland B standard is 4:09.75.

Long Jumper Lauren Callaghan will continue her season at World Indoor Tour Bronze Meeting de Nantes Metropole, a meeting that is being streamed live on the European Athletics YouTube channel.

Super Saturday

Among the star-studded fields gathered for weekend’s main event - the New Balance Grand Prix - are Andrew Coscoran, Brian Fay, Nick Griggs (3000m) and Cian McPhillips (600m).

Coscoran broke the Irish record when winning this event last year. Brian Fay arrives in Massachusetts two weeks after finishing 16th at the World Cross Country Championships. This will be Nick Griggs’s first competitive outing since romping to the European U23 Cross Country title in December, and his first indoor race since his epic battle with Cathal Doyle at the NIA almost two years ago.

In addition to having their eye on the win, and the bragging rights, some of the numbers these three may have in mind are 7:33.00 (World Indoor Auto Q), 7:41.00 (Athletics Ireland B standard for Poland), 7:30.75 (Coscoran’s National Indoor Record) and 7:30.36 (Mark Carroll’s outright Irish record). Grigg’s national U23 record is 7.45.57.

There are just two spots in each event for each federation at the World Indoors – unless an athlete can unlock a wild card by winning the World Indoor Tour in the event. Either way, competition for the spots will be fierce.

In his first track race since finishing fourth in the 800m in Tokyo, Cian McPhillips will face Donovan Brazier and Bryce Hoppel over three laps of the track. The Irish Indoor 600m record, which Mark English set in what was essentially a solo run at the NIA 10 days ago, may well receive further revision.

English himself has the opportunity to further alter the national indoor 800m record he set in Luxembourg on Sunday when he races at the Meeting Indoor de Lyon, also on Saturday. Also lining up at this World Indoor Tour Bronze meeting will be Bori Akinola (60m) and Jodie McCann (1500m).

Laura Nicholson, who has been training in Australia, will be racing over the mile at the World Continental Tour Bronze Pak'nSave Cooks International Classic in Whanganui, New Zealand on Saturday (7:50am Irish time).

The first round of the National Indoor League takes place in the NIA on Saturday and there is a big entry in the Open races. Max O'Reilly, Paul Costelloe and Michael Farrelly are among the 60m entries and Molly Scott is down for the 60m and 60m Hurdles. Declared athletes on the National League entries include Marcus Lawler (200m), Adam Nolan and Arabella Adekoya (60m Hurdles), and Conor Callinan and Matthew Callinan Keenan (Pole Vault), though they could change by tomorrow.

Something for Sunday

Sarah Lavin will open her indoor campaign at the World Indoor Tour Silver Meeting de Paris, where she will face French Indoor Champion Laeticia Bapte and Olympic finalist Alaysha Johnson (USA), among others. The first target for Lavin will be the 8.02 World Indoor standard.

Lucy Holmes, Niamh Carr and Philip Marron are all due to race over 2000m at Meeting Moniz Pereira (World Indoor Tour Challenger) in Portugal.

The AXA Raheny 5, one of only two World Athletics Label Road Races in Ireland, will also take place on Sunday. Ryan Creech, Cathal O'Reilly and Ann-Marie McGlynn are among the sold-out entries for the event.

US college action other US meetings (across Friday and Saturday)

Diarmuid O’Connor carries a 13-point cushion over his national record-breaking day one performance into Friday’s day two of the heptathlon at the Penn Elite Multi-Events in Philadelphia.

European Cross Country team gold medallists Callum Morgan and Lughaidh Mallon will race over 3000m at the Bruce Lehane Scarlet & White Invitational at Boston University on Saturday where Irish Indoor 1500m champion Kevin McGrath will take on the Mile. Finn Diver (Mile), Conall Rogers (800m), Claire Crowley (800m, 3000m) and Una Brice (Pole Vault) are also entered.

After her Northern Irish record-breaking 7.25 (60m) last weekend, Lauren Roy is entered for both the 60m and the 200m at the Stan Scott Invite in Lubbock. Lucy-May Sleeman is entered for the 60 at Orange & Purple Invitational in Clemson, where Nicole Dinan is on the 800m startlist.

Elizabeth Ndudi (Long Jump) will open her season at the Fighting Illini Challenge in Champaign. Sean Aigboboh (200m, 60m), Victoria Amiadamen (400m) and Finn O'Neill (60m Hurdles, Shot Put) are due to compete at the Ted Nelson Invitational in College Station.

Ava O’Connor, Louis O’Loughlin, Oisín Lynch and Claragh Keane are all on the mile startlists for the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Invitational at altitude in Albuquerque. Oisín Ó Gailín is also due to take on the altitude, for him over 3000m at the Colorado Invite in Boulder.

Charlie O'Donovan (mile) and Jack Fenlon (3000m) are due to compete at Penn Elite in Philadelphia. Finn Boyle (800m), Seán Cronin (800m), Sean Lawton (5000m) and Muireann Duffy (5000m) are entered for the Dr. Sander Invitational in New York.

Others due to compete for their colleges on Saturday and/or Sunday include Heather Murphy (3000m, Hokie Invitational), Cian Crampton (Weight Throw, Crossroads of America Invitational), Lucas Fadden (200m, Larry Wieczorek Invitational), Danny Hagen (60m Hurdles, 200m, LSU Bayou Bengal), Alexandra Joyce (Mile, Mark Colligan Memorial), and both Ashleigh McArdle (High Jump, 60m Hurdles, Long Jump) and Roisin Treacy (Mile) at the Notre Dame Invitational.

And finally…

In addition to the senior athletes mentioned above, Emily Bolton, Eimear Cooney, Sophia Thompson, Lorcan Forde Dunne and Liam Morris will compete in the Junior mile events at the New Balance Grand Prix in Boston on Saturday.

A small number of other athletes, including Oisin Murray, Jennifer O'Leary, Lorraine O'Connor (all 1500m) and Diarmuid Fagan (3000m), will compete at the BMC meeting in Cardiff on Sunday.

After a successful European Championships and two fourths at the Olympics in 2024, and a 2025 season which brought European Indoor, World Indoor, World Championship, European Cross Country, European 10,000m cup, European U20, European U23 and World University medals for Irish athletes, it's difficult not to get carried away.

Irish Athletics has clearly arrived, and 2026 will again provide plenty of opportunities for current stars to add more silverware, for new stars to make a breakthrough, and for the long-time injured to remind us of their existence.

For the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic derailed the 2020 season, there won't be a global outdoor championship. But worry not; the new World Athletics Ultimate Championships, which will round out the season, aims to ensure that the World's top athletes will still compete against each other in 2026.

But even more exciting from an Irish perspective is the fact that both the European and the Commonwealth Games will take place just across the Irish Sea. There will be a third World Indoor Championships in three years, World Relays in Africa for the first time, World U20 Championships in Eugene, and European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade at the end of the year, with plenty more in between.

Here’s a summary of the significant international athletics events due to take place across the year, the majority of which will feature Irish athletes.
 

World Cross Country Championships, Talahassee, USA, 10 Jan

The World Cross Country Championships head back to the US for the first time since 1992, the year that Catriona McKiernan won the first of her four consecutive silver medals in the Senior Women’s Race. Talahassee will play host to the first-ever January edition of the now-biannual event.

Four Irish athletes have been selected to compete in Talahassee, with a number of the top performers from the European Cross Country Championships heading indoors, or taking on the Valencia 10km in an attempt to qualify for the European Championships in August.

Fiona Everard, Niamh Allen and Brian Fay, who have all finished 10th at recent editions of Euro Cross will participate in the senior races while Noah Harris will be the sole Irish U20 representitive.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
 

European Throwing Cup, Nicosia, CYP, 14-15 Mar

The indoor season won’t even have concluded by the time the top throwers open their 2025 campaigns at the European Throwing Cup in Nicosia, the site of unprecedented Irish throwing success in 2025.

After two consecutive silver medals in the U23 Hammer, Nicola Tuthill took gold at the 2025 edition. A move up to senior level shouldn't daunt the athlete who reached the World Championship final in Tokyo. 

Anna Gavigan (silver, U23 discus) and Oisín Joyce (bronze, U23 javelin) also won medals at the 2024 edition, and both are again eligible for the U23 category in 2025. Others who may make the trip are Conor Cusack (Javelin) who had a breakthrough 2025, Niamh Fogarty who broke the long-standing national discus record and Eric Favors who made another global championships in the shot put.

Event information
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Irish Athletes who have achieved consideration standards
 

World Indoor Championships, Kujawy Pomorze-Toruń, POL, 20-22 Mar

The 21st World Athletics Indoor Championships will be held in Toruń, in the Polish Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship from 20 to 22 March.

The 2025 edition saw Ireland win its first medal in 19 years as Kate O'Connor took silver in the women's pentathlon. With no global outdoor championship in 2026 - the first time since 2020 that there won't be a World or Olympic outdoor Championships - this may well be a competitive event, and medals may be even more difficult to come by.

Qualification will be based on entry standards, with any remaining places to fill quota based on the Top Performances list during the qualification window (1st November 2025 to 8th March 2026).

Each country can have two athletes per event, plus a Wild Card where applicable. Wild Cards will be allocated to 2026 World Indoor Tour winners. There is no entry standard for relays; any nation can enter a team.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Qualification status of Irish athletes
 

World Race Walking Team Championships, Brazilia, BRA, 14 Apr

In April 2026, the World Race Walking Team Championships will take place in South America for the very first time. The Brazilian capital will also host the first championship event to feature walks at the half marthon and marathon distances.

Oisin Lane, who finished 28th in the 35km Walk at the World Championships in Tokyo, and David Kenny, who finished 11th over 20km at the European Race Walking Cup last spring, are likely to lead any Irish team that is selected.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Irish athletes who have achieved consideration standards
 

World Relays, Gaborone, BOT, 2-3 May

The World Relays head to Africa for the first time in 2026. With no global championships to qualify for in 2026, it's unclear what role the World Relays will play in the overall calendar, and whether or not Athletics Ireland will send a team.

There will also be smaller fields than in last year's edition, with just 24 federations in each event. The top 8 teams from the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo have qualified. The host nation is also guaranteed a spot in each event. Remaining places will be allocated based on the top list during the qualification period (1st Januray 2025 to 5rh April 2026).

At the end of the 2025 track season, Ireland sit in qualificaiton spots for the Women's 4x400m, Women's 4x100m and Mixed 4x400m relays.

Event info
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Road to Garborone
 

European 10,000m Cup, La Spezia, ITA, 23 May

La Spezia in Italy will host the European 10,000m Cup. There will be A and B races in both men’s and women’s categories, with athletes seeded according to prior accomplishments. The addition of pacemakers allows athletes to avail of a rare opportunity to chase personal bests and championship qualification standards while surrounded by athletes of a similar ability.

Efrem Gidey won Ireland's first ever European 10,000m cup medal when he took the men's title in Pacé last year.

Event website
Athletics Ireland Selection Policy
 

European Off-Road Running Championships, Ljubljana-Kamnik, SLO, 5-7 Jun

The 3rd edition of the European Off-Road Championships will traverse the stunning landscape of the Kamnik–Savinja Alpine region in Slovenia.

The elites will compete over Uphill and Classic (up and down) Mountain races and a 52km trail race. Like with the inaugural European Running Championships, the event will be open to mass participants. 

Event website
 

Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, GBR, 27 Jul - 1 Aug

Having picked up a silver medal at the last edition in Birmingham four years ago, Kate O'Connor, should she choose to compete, would head to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with clear medal expectations. Olympic medallist and two-time World Champion Katrina Johnson-Thompson would be her most likely rival for the Hepathlon title.

Other Northern Irish athletes who have already hit consideration standards are Nick Griggs (mile and 5000m), Callum Morgan (5000m) and Anna McCauley (Hepathlon). Others will look to secure their spot before the 14 June deadline.

Event website
Athletes who have achieved consideration standards
 

World U20 Championships, Eugene, USA, 5-9 Aug

The World U20 Championships will head to the Americas for the 3rd consecutive edition, having been held in Colombia in 2024 and Peru in 2021. The USA (also Eugene) last hosted this event in 2014.

Irish athletes have won just 5 medals at previous editions of the World Junior/U20 Championships: High Jump silver medals for Antoine Burke (1994) and Sommer Lecky (2018), 1500m silver for Ciara Mageean in 2010; Javelin bronze for Oisín Joyce at the last edition, and 4x100m silver for Molly Scott, Ciara Neville, Gina Akpe-Moses, Patience Jumbo-Gula, Rhasidat Adeleke in 2018.

European U20 Champion Conor Kelly (400m), who competed in Lima, is still young enough for the 2026 edition. Others that could potentially make the cut are European U20 finalists Cian Crampton (Discus), Theo Hanlon (Shot Put) and Dubem Amah (200m).

Event website
 

European Championships, Birmingham, GBR, 10-16 Aug

The European Athletics Championships will be held in Birmingham from 10 to 16 August 2026, marking the first time that the Championships will be held in the UK. Ireland had their most successful European Championships two years ago in Rome, with medals for Ciara Mageean (gold, 1500m), Rhasidat Adeleke (silver, 400m), the mixed 4x400m relay (gold) and the women's 4x400m (silver).

Kate O'Connor (Hepathlon), Cian McPhillips (800m) and Sarah Healy (1500m) are likely to also be among those in contention. Others to achieve the automation qualification standards before the end of the 2025 season are Israel Olatunde (100m), Sharlene Mawdsley (400m), Mark English (800m), Sophie O'Sullivan (1500m), Darragh McElhinney and Nick Griggs (both 5000m), Efrem Gidey (10,000m), Sarah Lavin (100m Hurdles), Nicola Tuthill (Hammer Throw), David Kenny (Half Marathon Walk) and Oisin Lane (Marathon Walk). Five of the six relay teams are also sitting in quota spots at the end of 2025, suggesting that this could be one of the biggest Irish teams ever at an international championship.

It's also likely to attract the biggest ever flock of Irish supporters.

Event website
Athletics Ireland Selection Policy
Qualification status of Irish athletes
 

World Athletics Ultimate Championships, Budapest, HUN, 11-13 Sep

The Ultimate Championships is a brand new competition which will run in the years where there is no World Championship and will close out the season. The first edition will take place in Budapest in September 2026. 

Proudly representing their countries and competing for the largest prize pot in track and field, only the world's very best athletes win the right to compete.

Automatic qualifiers include 2024 Olympic Champions, 2025 World Athletics Champions and 2026 Diamond League winners. The best performers of 2026 based on the World Ranking qualification system will complete the remainder of the spots (16 in individual events; 8 in relays).

There is no limit on how many athletes from a single country can qualify. While we won't know Irish qualifiers until much closer to the date (none have qualified automatically), only Cian McPhillips (800m) and Sarah Healy (3000m) would have made the initial cut in 2025.

Event website
 

World Road Running Championships, Copenhagen, DEN, 19-20 Sep

No Irish athlete has ever won a medal at either the World Road Running Championships or its precursor, the World Half Marthon Championships. While it's unrealistic to expect that to change in 2026, the fact that the Irish half marathon record was broken here in both 2024 (Efrem Gidey) and 2025 (Fearghal Curtin), would appear a good omen for Irish road runners.

Championship medals will also be contested over the mile and 5km, in a city renowned for fast times.

Event website
 

European Cross Country Championships, Belgrade, SRB, 13 Dec

The European Cross Country Championships will return to Friendship Park in Belgrade on 13th December 2026, the site of the 2013 event and the 2024 World Cross Country Championships. Irish athletes will be hoping for more medals, having won silverware at each of the past six editions. Nick Griggs is young enough to defend his U23 title, as will three of his title-winning teammates. Emma Hickey has three more years in the U20 category where she won bronze in 2025. And the senior men will likely be looking to upgrade their team silver from last year.

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Live athletics events in Ireland are more popular than ever. Last year, the National Senior Indoor Championships sold out in advance of the event; beautiful summer’s evenings saw a packed stand at the Cork City Sports and record numbers at the Morton Games in early July, and the National Senior Championships boasted its biggest attendance in decades.

With Irish athletes typically generous with their time, athletics fans, young and old, have plenty of opportunities to watch and meet their favourites across the season. Here are some of the top events to get to, and what fans can expect from each.

Irish Senior Indoor Championships, NIA, Dublin, 28 February-1 March

The National Indoor Arena at the Sport Ireland Campus in Abbottstown will again host two action-packed days of indoor competition, as athletes vie for national titles, qualification standards and ranking points.

The National indoor championships are rarely without at least one standout performance or moment of drama. In 2025, Seán Tobin out dipped James Gormley by the finest of margins to take the 3000m title, while in 2024, the closing stages of the men’s 1500m final, with Cathal Doyle and Nick Griggs falling over the line, had the crowd on the edge of their seats. In 2023, spectators witnessed Israel Olatunde smashing the national 60m record.

Not all athletes will race indoors, and some inevitably miss the national encounter in favour of managing niggles and sniffles ahead of the World Indoors.

Many, however, will be looking to achieve the entry standard or climb within quota for the upcoming World Indoor Championships.

With limited spectator capacity, the NIA is likely to sell out well in advance of the championships; book your ticket early (via Athletics Ireland website) to avoid disappointment. While most of the track finals will take place on Day 2, the Saturday programme won’t be without its drama, with half the field event finals taking place, along with a couple of track finals (timetable to be confirmed, but the 200m and 60m hurdles finals normally take place on Day 1).

Cork City Sports, MTU Track, Cork, 8 July

The Cork City Sports will again be the first of the big trio of senior domestic events in July. The intimate venue makes for a lovely evening out, especially when the sun shines. While the weather can’t be guaranteed, the athletics action rarely disappoints, with Ireland’s top athletes, especially those from Cork, battling it out against some top athletes from Britain, the USA and further afield.

Nicola Tuthill (Hammer) was the only Irish winner at the 2025 edition, but Cian McPhillips showed a glimpse of what was to come later in the summer when he finished second in the 800m.

The 2026 programme, like recent years, will include 100m, 200m, 800m and 3000m races for both men and women, as well a women’s 100m hurdles and the men’s mile, which traditionally concludes the programme. On the field, the women will compete in the Hammer Throw and the High Jump, while there will be Long Jump and Shot Put competitions for the men. Junior and national events will bolster what is typically a strong international meeting.

Fans who prefer to be seated in the stand should book their ticket early, as these have sold out in advance in recent years.

Morton Games, Morton Stadium, Dublin, 10 July

Just two days after the Cork City Sports, the World Continental tour will head to Santry for the Morton Games.

The Morton Mile, which concludes the programme, is one of the highlights, not just of the meeting, but of the annual domestic calendar. After a drought of 18 years, there have been Irish winners in three of the last four editions. Andrew Coscoran ’s dive just got the better of Cathal Doyle in 2022. Doyle finally got his name on the trophy with a dominant display in 2024, while Coscoran retained it in 2025. Irish athletes filled the top five spots last year, and eight ran under 3:57.

Cian McPhillips, however, was the star of the show last year, when he took the win in the 800m and dipped under the World Championships qualification standard. The performance was also a meeting record and a stadium record and earned him the Outstanding Performance on Irish Soil award at the Athletics Ireland awards in November.

Sharlene Mawdsey broke the meeting record when winning the women’s 400m, Israel Olatunde took the win in the men’s 100m, and Conor Kelly bettered the national U20 record when finishing fourth in the men’s 400m.

The 2026 edition will have international races over 100m, 400m, 800m, mile and 5000m and a Shot Put competition for men. The women will compete in 400m, 800m, 1500m, 100m hurdles, High Jump and Discus.

National Senior Championships, Morton Stadium, Dublin, 25-26 July

Heading into its 154th edition, the Irish Senior Championships is the longest continuous-running national championship in the World and should be the first fixture placed in any serious Irish athletics fan’s diary.

It’s a great opportunity for new fans of the sport to meet established and up-and-coming stars, and the best opportunity in the year for those who’ve been around the sport for a while to catch up with old competitors and friends.

The 2025 Championships was the best-attended National Senior in years, with children from across the country, along with their responsible adults, flocking to Morton Stadium to witness Ireland’s rising stars in action, and grab an autograph or two from current and past stars of the sport.

Among the highlights of the 2025 edition were Nicola Tuthill’s U23 record in the Hammer, truly competitive men’s 1500m and 5000m races, current and future national record holders going head-to-head in the men’s 800m, and a women’s 800m title fight for the ages.

Reece Ademola became just the second Irish man to jump eight metres in the long jump, and while it had marginally more than the allowed wind assistance for record purposes, it got the Irish public excited for what this talented young Corkonian can achieve. Sarah Lavin and Sharlene Mawdsley went up against each other in the women’s 200m, while Bori Akinola took his first senior outdoor title over 100m.

National Senior Cross Country Championships, venue tbc, 22 November

Cross country isn’t for everyone, but those who endured the rain in Derry last year were rewarded with one of the most extraordinary domestic battles in living history as the senior men’s race crowned its tenth different winner in as many editions.

Brian Fay ran out the eventual winner, but soon-to-be-European-Under-23-Champion Nick Griggs and 2023 winner Cormac Dalton made him work for it right to the line. Jack O’Leary, who would three weeks later lead the senior men to team silver at the European Cross Country Championships, came through for fourth place, with Darragh McElhinney and Efrem Gidey, both one-time leaders of the race, also earning their Euro Cross berths.

In addition to the Senior races, which incorporate the U23 Championships, and the U20 races, the event also incorporates the All-Ireland Even Age Juvenile Championships. With individual, inter-club and inter-county titles, as well as Euro Cross Country places, on the line, this is the cross country event to watch to get to.

The above five events make exciting viewing for even the most novice of athletics fans. If you’ve witnessed these and wish to get a bit deeper into the domestic athletics scene, then check out the Belfast Classic at Mary Peter’s Track, Belfast, on 9 May. Previous editions of this meeting have seen national records, Olympic and World Championships qualifying times, breakout performances and hundreds of personal bests.

The Irish Schools Championships in Tullamore (29-30 May) is the greatest annual showcase of rising stars with non-stop action, and straight finals throughout the Friday evening and Saturday programme.

The Autumn Open Cross Country in Abbotstown (18 October), gives a good gauge of who might be battling for European Cross Country glory later in the autumn, while the programme opens with the National Mixed Cross Country Relay Championships.

The streets of Dublin come alive on the final Sunday of October, as the city’s population pours out onto the streets in support of those taking on the Dublin Marathon for a variety of reasons, with some aiming to be crowned national marathon champions.

And with the European Championships (Birmingham) and Commonwealth Games (Glasgow) taking place just across the water in August, along with the Diamond League in London on 18 July, there’s plenty of opportunity for Irish athletics fans to watch live athletics in the year ahead.

With Irish athletes in flying form over every distance, there were numerous magical moments throughout the 2025 track season.

World Championship silver for Kate O'Connor, record-breaking runs from Cian McPhillips in Tokyo, and Sarah Healy’s European Indoor title are obvious highlights, but we’ve delved a little deeper to bring you ten races well worth a re-watch.

From cracking indoor battles to record-breaking relay runs, here are some of our favourite noteworthy track performances by Irish athletes, at home and overseas, during the past year.

1. Everyone wanted the national 5000m title

They were all there, with their feet, and their necks, on the start line. Ok, so Darragh McElhinney and Nick Griggs were in the 1500m instead, arguably a tougher race for athletes who would one week later run 13:02 and 13:05 respectively, but there was still depth we’re not accustomed to seeing at this level. Nobody was dodging a challenge this particular weekend.

Efrem Gidey had become Ireland’s first European 10,000m Cup medallist (and champion) in May. Brian Fay is the Irish record holder at the distance. Andrew Coscoran had spent the indoor season breaking national records.

Cormac Dalton, in finishing eighth in Brussels in 2023, was Ireland’s highest finishing senior man at European Cross Country Championships since Joe Sweeney’s 4th place in 2011. Jack O’Leary had showed a return to form when running 13:22 at the Morton Games a few weeks previously. John Travers, Michael Murphy, Mark Hanrahan and Niall Murphy might well have been battling for a medal any other year.

And here they all were, ready to battle it out for a title.

There were still seven athletes in contention with four laps to go, before it was whittled down to five 3800m in. Then, with 350m remaining, it became a battle between the two fastest athletes in the field (both over 5000m and in their typical last-lap speed). But who would it be? Fay, looking for a third consecutive title, or Coscoran seeking a tough double?

Watch the closing stages here!

2. Morton magic from McPhillips

After a mediocre start to a redemption year, Cian McPhillips announced his return to the Irish consciousness when he dropped 1:45.33 at an indoor meeting in Boston on 14th February. A fall at European Indoors, and another injury, halted the progress, and despite having the Athletics Ireland B standard, the route to Tokyo looked a steep one for the Longford man.

McPhillips was back by European Team Champs, where he finished third, and he left it late when getting up for second place at the Cork City Sports. But it was at the Morton Games just two days later that he announced himself in emphatic style: win, personal best, meeting record, stadium record, and, most crucially, the automatic qualification standard for Tokyo.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Watch the race here!

3. Blanket finish to National Senior 800m final

While the men were going head-to-head over 1500m and the 5000m, it was over 800m that the best of Irish female middle distance running were tearing strips off each other at this year's national seniors. And that was just the heats.

Two athletes – Jenna Bromell and Sarah Healy – had already run 2:00 earlier in the summer, Alex O’Neill was making steady progress and had run 2:01.70 to finish third at the Morton Games, and Maeve O’Neill had been sublimely consistent all summer, running a PB 2:02.66 and just missing out on the final at the European U23 Championships.

It was those four at the front of a tightly packed and talent-filled field through 200m and 400m. As the pace quickened, Maddison Mooney (the bronze medallist over 1500m in 2024) and Hannah Seagrave (fourth at the British Championships over this distance in 2024), put themselves in contention; there were still six in it with 100m to run.

The title, and the medals, were only decided in the final stride.

What a race.

Watch the race here!

4. Another National Indoor battle too close to call

Every now and again we’re treated to two well-matched athletes equally determined to clinch a national title, neither willing to give an inch. And the result is enthralling to watch.

Indoors this year, over 15 laps, it was the turn of Seán Tobin - not a stranger to the tight domestic head-to-head - and James Gormley, who was bound for World Indoors.

Just 0.01 in it in the end.

Watch the full race here!

5. Olatunde at the season’s death

Bori Akinola had been the Irish sprinter in form all season. He took the indoor 60m title in February ahead of national record holder Israel Olatunde and won a first outdoor title over 100m after his more accomplished counterpart missed the final through injury. He even ran the fastest all-conditions 100m by an Irish man when he clocked a windy 10.10 (+2.9) in London in June.

But even after the domestic season had wound down, and with little but Tokyo left on the calendar, there was still time for a final twist in the Irish sprinting storyline. Recovered from the abdominal muscle tear which had halted his season, Olatunde appeared on the startlist for the final Be Fast Today Track Academy (BFTTA) Outdoor Series at Lee Valley Athletics Centre in London on 30th August.

This doesn’t sound like one of the more glamorous meetings on the circuit – and it isn’t – but sprint meetings in London attract many top British athletes and usually return fast times.

Olatunde clocked 10.27 (+1.3) in the first round. Nothing to write home about, but a solid performance none the less.

Then, with a perfect 2.0 m/s following wind, the magic happened.

Irish sprinting had just taken another leap towards world class.

Olatunde was now a 10.08 sprinter.

Watch Olatunde run 10.08 here!

6. Raftery’s breakthrough run

You could see what it meant to him. Forty-four-point-nine-eight. His first time under 45 seconds. Not the win that the team might have appreciated, but the fourth place finish by Jack Raftery in the 400m at the European Team Championships was probably the most celebrated performance of the weekend.

Raftery battled for every place beside the 2024 World Indoor and European Champion Alexander Doom (BEL), Balkan Champion Rok Ferlan (SLO) and 2023 World University Games bronze medallist Mihai Sorin Dringo (ROU), as he became only the second Irish athlete to run under 45 seconds for the distance.

Next stop? David Gillick’s Irish record, perhaps?

Watch Raftery break 45 seconds 3:57:14 into this recording!

7. You wait 25 years for a bus…

Marcus Lawler was just five years old when an Irish team – through John McAdorey, Gary Ryan, Tom Comyns and Paul Brizzel - last broke the national 4x100m record. None of his relay teammates were even born.

On 21 June in Geneva, Lawler, together with Michael Farrelly, Bori Akinola and Israel Olatunde, however, broke an almost 25-year deadlock when they clocked 38.92, and just six days later, with Sean Aigboboh standing in for Bori Akinola sustained a niggle in the warm-up, they went even faster, winning their heat at the European Team Championships.

Watch the men's 4x100m relay team run 38.88 at 5:14:20 into this recording!

8. Thompson’s 10,000m triumph

European U23 titles don’t come around very often for Irish athletes. In fact, in the 14 editions of the event prior to 2025, there has been just one: Sophie O’Sullivan (1500m, 2023). But the Irish athletics tide is rising, and on 18th July, Anika Thompson added a second when she took victory over 25 laps in Bergen, Norway.

Two Germans – Kira Weis and Carolina Shäfer made a break on the first lap, and Thompson quickly covered the gap and joined them 400m in. These three gradually pulled away, with Thompson tucked in conserving as much energy as possible.

Before halfway it was down to just two, with Weis setting a metronomic pace, and Thompson keeping cool and keeping her cool just behind her. With two laps to go Thompson took the lead for the first time, and tried to break Weis.

Both were trying to muster a sprint, and with 250m to go, there was still very little between them. The harder Thompson tried to pull away, the harder Weis tried to stick with her.

Finally, with just half a lap remaining, the German cracked, and Thompson pulled away for a dogged victory in 32:31.47, just over 23 seconds faster than she’d ever run before.

Watch the entire race from 4:22:10 or the final 1200m from 4:53:12

9. Maher's Masterclass

Thompson and Nicola Tuthill – who won silver in the hammer while Thompson was racing her 10,000m –  set the ball rolling for the Irish team. But there was still more to come, as athlete after athlete stepped up and performed, none more so than Eimear Maher.

The DSD athlete came into 2025 with a PB of 4:22.01 over 1500m, and had already enjoyed a breakthrough season with a win at the Irish U23 Championships, and a PB 4:08.67 at the Morton Games. But the composure with which she ran the final in Bergen demonstrated that she doesn’t just have speed, but a great racing brain too.

Watch the entire race here

10. Efrem’s European Cup win

Ireland had never before won a medal at the European 10,000m Cup, but with the fastest time in the field, Efrem Gidey stood on the start line with a shot. He’d run 27:26.95 in California in March, a performance which earned him enough world ranking points to eventually make the quota for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, and a time which saw him fastest European on the track in 2025.

Gidey had just missed out on a medal in the half marathon at the European Road Running championships earlier in the spring. He had the speed, he now just needed to get the tactics right.

And that he did in style, making a decisive move with 650m to go, and never looking like he was going to be beaten from that point.

Watch the entire race here

Watch last 700m here

Five bonus watches

Niamh Allen versus Anika Thompson, 5000m at National Senior Championships: Watch here

Sarah Healy’s European Indoor 3000m win: Watch here

Conor Kelly becoming the European U20 400m champion: Watch here

Another classic Morton Mile: Watch here

Sophie O'Sullivan winning the NCAA 1500m title: Watch here

The focus here has been on track events; we’ll cover momentous field event moments in a separate upcoming article.

Registration will be needed to watch the Eurovision Sport recordings above.

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.

Irish athletes won 25 International medals, from European Youth Olympics right up to World Senior Championships, this year. While there have never been as many international events at which athletes can win medals, this still makes 2019 (14 medals) and 2005 (13 medals) look mediocre years. As recently as 2016, Irish athletes won just three medals on the international stage. There were no international medals at all for Irish athletes in 1996.

Years, too, 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 (at the time). 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.

In winning bronze in Lagoa, Emma Hickey became Ireland's first ever U20 medallist - team or individual - at the European Cross Country Championships (Linda Byrne, the only Irish athlete to have ever finished top 10 in all three age categories, finished 4th U20 in 2005, and the team finished 4th in both 2025 and 2008).

Nick Griggs became Ireland's most successful athlete at this Championship when he added U23 Individual and Team titles to the six medals (three individual and three team) he'd won at the previous four editions. He became Ireland's first male individual champion, and the first Irish athlete to win an underage title (the other three individual titles have all come in the senior women's race via Catriona McKiernan in 1994 and Fionnuala McCormack in 2011 and 2012). Griggs, Callum Morgan, Niall Murphy, Jonas Stafford and Loughaidh Mallon, won Ireland's third Men's U23 team title.

The senior men ended a twenty-five-year drought when they won team silver. Brian Fay and Cormac Dalton, who were both on the teams that finished fourth in Dublin (2021) and Brussels (2023), were joined by Jack O'Leary (Ireland's second-highest ever finisher in the senior men's race), Darragh McElhinney and Efrem Gidey.

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.

Irish records

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.

National leads

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 ten editions.

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. Cormac Dalton and Danielle Donegan completed the Portugal to Portugal Euro Cross Country streak, having completed in all six editions from Lisbon 2019 to Lagoa in 2025.

Brian Fay became the first Irishman to finish top 10 in the senior men's race at Euro Cross on more than one occasion. He just pipped Cormac Dalton, who finished 11th in Lagoa, to that particular honour. Anna Gardiner competed in the U20 race at Euro Cross for the fourth time, the first Irish athlete, we believe, to do so. Emma Hickey not only won Wexford's first medal at Euro Cross, but we also believe that she is the first Wexford athlete to ever compete at the event (Wexford athletes have competed at World Cross in the past).

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 been a record-breaking year on many fronts. 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.

Twenty-five medals in 2025 has a very nice ring to it, and while hoping or expecting 26 in the year ahead might be a bit too optimistic, one can't help but feel that this is just the beginning of a golden era of Irish athletics.

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.

Original article published 1 Nov 2025; updated 23 Dec to include the European Cross Country Championships results and statistics.

Catriona McKiernan won the first edition of the European Cross Country Championships held in Alnwick, GBR on 10th December 1984, a significant achievement for the Cavan woman who’d finished second at four World Cross Country Championships before then.

There have been multiple successes for Irish athletes in the 29 editions since, including back-to-back senior wins for Fionnuala McCormack in 2011 and 2012, and team wins for the senior women (2012), U23 men (2010 and 2021) and U20 men (2023).

Ireland is one of 15 countries that have competed in all prior editions, and McCormack has competed in more editions than any other female.

Is Portugal Ireland’s happy hunting ground?

When the event was last held in Portugal in 2019, Ireland had gone three straight events without a medal. In Lisbon, however, that drought ended in dramatic fashion, with Efrem Gidey winning bronze in the U20 men’s race, Stephanie Cotter winning bronze and leading Ireland to team silver in the U23 women’s race, and the senior women’s team also winning team silver.

Medals have also been won by Irish athletes at each of the four editions since. Teams have been performing so well in recent years that their pre-Lisbon medal tally (five individual and eight team medals) has been more than matched by the medals won in the five editions since 2019 (six individual and eight team medals).

Experienced team

Cormac Dalton and Danielle Donegan are due to complete the Portugal-to-Portugal streak in Lagoa. Dalton was a member of the U23 team in 2019, and is about to make his fifth consecutive senior appearance. His best finish to date was eighth in Brussels in 2023. Donegan was in the U20 team in 2019 and the U23 team in 2021, 2022 and 2023. This will be her second appearance in the senior race.

Mary Mulhare has already competed in the senior women’s race four times in that period, including on medal-winning teams in 2019 and 2022, and was one of the named reserves in 2021.

Nick Griggs is making his fifth successive Euro Cross appearance, and has won six medals (three individual and three team) to date. He is already Ireland’s most successful male athlete – in terms of medals – at this event, and equal with Fionnuala McCormack, who also has three individual and three team medals.

Anna Gardiner will be making her fourth appearance in the U20 race. Her best performance to date was seventh in Brussels in 2023.

Some stretch targets, perhaps?

Linda Byrne is, to date, the only Irish athlete to have finished in the top 10 in all three age categories. Having finished third U20 in 2019 and fifth U23 in 2022, a top 10 in the senior race would make Gidey the first Irish man to do so.

There have been Irish team medals in five of the six regular races, but never in the Women’s U20 race, fourth being their best result (2008). The relay team has also never made the podium, though they did get close in Dublin in 2021.

Individual medals have also never been won by Irish athletes in the senior men’s race (Joe Sweeney, fourth in 2011, came closest), or the U20 women’s race (Byrne came closest with fourth in 2005).

No Irish man has finished top 10 in the senior race on more than one occasion. Dalton (eighth in 2023) and Fay (tenth in 2021) both have the opportunity to change that on Sunday.

The five medals won in Turin three years ago (two individual and three team medals) is the most ever won by Ireland at a single edition.

Michael Clohesy, who raced Euro Cross on 10 occasions, has the most appearances by an Irish man (Ukraine’s Serhiy Lebid holds the overall record with 19 appearances). While no Irish man can better Clohesy this time around, Dalton could do so by 2030. Donegan, and the rest of the women, however, have some way to go to catch Fionnuala, currently on 18 appearances.

As the sun sets on the Algarve on Sunday afternoon, the Irish team will hope to look back on another successful Championships in what has already been a record-breaking year for Irish Athletics.

Whether or not they can add to the 21 International medals, from European Youth Olympics right up to World Senior Championships, won in 2025, only time will tell. But recent history suggests that they’ll give it one hell of a lash.

Later this month, the Irish team will head to the European Cross Country in Lagoa, Portugal, with serious medal aspirations. The marathon runners will look to further impress in what has already been a historic year for the Irish men on the roads.

And the indoor season will get underway both in Ireland and for US-based college athletes Stateside. The national walks championships will take place in Raheny. And with the Southern Hemisphere track season about to start, there’s even a chance that Irish athletes will compete on all surfaces this month.
 

Euro Cross Country Championships

The European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal, will provide a final opportunity for Ireland to extend the record championship medal haul of 2025. In addition to the individual contenders, there are particularly strong teams in the U23 men’s race, the senior men’s race and the mixed relay.

Both the women’s U23 senior women’s teams are loaded with experience and will look to improve on their fifth and tenth, respectively, in Antalya.

Brian Fay, Cormac Dalton and Niamh Allen have all previously finished in the top 10 in the senior races, and will be looking to repeat their performances from 2021, 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Nick Griggs will be looking for a fourth individual medal at this event, and Anna Gardiner will be competing in the U20 women’s race for a fourth consecutive time. Her best finish was seventh in Brussels two years ago.

The Irish team ended a three-edition medal drought when the event was last held in Portugal in 2019, winning two individual and two team medals. There has been at least one Irish medal at each edition since, and the 34-member team will travel to Lagoa optimistic of continuing that streak.

Field-a-Team: Lagoa will be launched closer to the event, and check back next week for dedicated preview articles.
 

A couple of marathons

Fearghal Curtin, who smashed the Irish marathon record when winning the Gyeongju marathon in October, is back in action on Sunday. He’s unlikely to be such a low-key participant this time around.

After a less-than-perfect debut in Boston earlier this year, Barry Keane is making his second attempt at the distance at The Marathon Project in Arizona on 21 December. He’ll be hoping to deliver himself a big personal best in time for Christmas.
 

Big weekend of US College action

The coming weekend will see some of the distance athletes attempt to transfer cross country form onto the track, with the first of the Boston University meetings (Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener) taking place. Abdel Laadjel, who recently finished 9th at the NCAA Div I Cross Country Championships, is among the elite entries for the 5000m there.

Laadjel ran his outright PB of 13:29.79 at the same event last year. The Irish indoor record is Andrew Coscoran's 13:12.56 from January 2024. Several other Irish athletes are entered across the 3000m and 5000m races.

Others are likely to compete at some of the dozens of college meetings taking place on the last busy weekend pre-Christmas.
 

Domestic action

The NIA Live series of indoor events gets underway on 3rd December with 60 races scheduled across just four hours, including M80 and W40 4 x 400 WR attempts. NIA Live meeting two on 17th December is expected to include competitive elite 3000m races for men and women; a strong women’s 1000m; and a potential sub-four attempt in the men’s mile.

December is also a big month for the domestic road race scene. Several athletes who just missed out on Euro Cross selection, along with some track athletes testing their endurance, are entered for the Jingle Bells 5k in the Phoenix Park on Saturday 6th.

The World Race Walking Tour will come to Dublin on 14th December. This Bronze-level event will incorporate the Irish 20km Racewalking Championships.

There are a few talented athletes entered for the National Novice Cross Country Championships which will be held alongside the uneven age juvenile Championships in Dublin on Sunday 7th.
 

All this should warm fans up nicely for 2026 and all that it might hold.

Many of Ireland’s top cross country athletes will be battling for national glory and Euro Cross berths in Templemore, Co Derry, on Sunday, while others will be competing against the best college athletes in the United States on Friday and Saturday.

Even when accounting for athletes whose clubs may have entered them out of hope rather than expectation, both the men’s and women’s fields for Templemore look pretty competitive. The U23 battles within the senior contests should add further spice to the not-to-be-missed races.

Ten in a row, anyone?

Last year’s champion Keelan Kilrehill is the one notable absentee from the men’s entries, meaning that only Darragh McElhinney, the 2022 champion, and Cormac Dalton, the winner in 2023, stand in the way of making it 10 different winners of the men’s National Cross Country title in as many editions.

Neither McElhinney nor Dalton will bow to such a niche statistic when they toe the line on Sunday, and both should be among those contesting the medals.

Among those looking to continue the streak are Nick Griggs, keen to win his first national senior title on any surface; Brian Fay, who, like Dalton, has a Euro Cross Top 10 finish to his name; European 10,000m Cup winner Efrem Gidey; Callum Morgan, who looked sublime when winning the Autumn International in October; and a resurgent Jack O’Leary.

Paul O’Donnell, Pierre Murchan and William Fitzgerald, who have also made the senior men’s team for Euro Cross in recent years, are also entered, as are Tokyo Olympian Stephen Scullion and recent national marathon champion David McGlynn.

Niall Murphy, who had the race of his life to finish second last year, will be back to defend his U23 title, but to do so he will again need to overcome Griggs and Morgan. Cathal O’Reilly, who finished 8th overall last year, is also still under U23 this year.

Wide open women’s race

As in the men’s race, the women’s race has lacked a consistent winner in recent years, with seven different winners in the past seven editions. The two most recent winners - Fiona Everard (2023) and Ann-Marie McGlynn (2024) - will look to change that.

Another previous winner on the startlist is Michelle Finn (2021), one of six Olympians entered, who has missed a year through injury.

Also entered is last year’s runner-up Niamh Allen, who went on to finish 10th in Antalya. Indeed, there’s a chance that all six from last year’s team compete again for places, with Dannielle Donegan, Mary Mulhare and Cheryl Nolan also entered.

Roisin Flanagan and Eilish Flanagan have both made the team on multiple previous occasions, and are also both entered to compete on Sunday.

Jodie McCann, Laura Nicholson and Eimear Maher, all better known as track athletes, will likely be hoping that an Irish mixed relay team is selected after an absence from the last two editions.

The first three in the U20 and Senior races in Derry will gain automatic selection for Lagoa, while the top two in the U23 categories will also be rewarded with Euro Cross selection. The Athletics Ireland selection policy suggests that they will select further athletes, up to a maximum of five in each event (it’s worth noting that the sixth qualifier for both the Senior and U23 men’s teams last year made the scoring three in Antalya!), leaving the door open for some of the athletes racing in the US this weekend to also be selected.

Across the Atlantic…

While the final lineup won’t be confirmed until the race starts, there could be as many as nine Irish athletes competing in the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Columbia, Missouri, on Saturday.

Abdel Laadjel won the Big Ten Conference title three weeks ago, and helped the Oregon men gain an automatic spot for the ‘big dance’ last Friday. European U23 10,000m champion Anika Thompson helped the Oregon women qualify, and should start on Saturday.

Anna Gardiner, Cara Laverty, Niamh O'Mahony and Jane Buckley will all feature on the Providence team, which finished 2nd at the North East Region qualifier. Gardiner and Laverty were particularly impressive that day, finishing sixth and seventh individually. Gardiner is still an U20 for Euro Cross, while Laverty, like Thompson, is eligible for the U23 race.

Twenty-four-year-old Matthew Neill was also seventh at regionals and is likely to start for Syracuse. Dean Casey (Colorado) and Billy Coogan (Iona) may also run.

Eleven Irish athletes raced last year, with Casey (30th) and Thompson (32nd) the top Irish finishers. Keith Kelly was the last Irish individual winner of this prestigious event back in 2000.

Adams State will again be medal contenders at NCAA Division II Championships in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Saturday. European U23 and World University Games steeplechase finalist Ava O’Connor and Wexford woman Claragh Keane are among their likely starters.

On Friday, Heather Murphy (Montreat), who competed in the 10,000m at the European U23 Championships earlier this year, will be among the Irish racing at the NAIA National Cross Country Championships.

And next...

The Irish team for the European Cross Country Championships is due to be selected by Tuesday, 25th November. The event will take place in Lagoa, Portugal, on 14th December. Selections for the World Cross Country Championships - set for Talahassee, Florida on 10th January - will be made following the continental decider.

The IUAA University Cross champions will be decided in Dublin this Saturday, while the World Championships will be held in early January for the very first time. Here’s what we might expect from the three-month-long, action-packed cross country season.

Intervarsity Cross Country Championships, Dublin, Saturday 11th October 2025

In its new October home, entries for the IUAA Intervarsity Cross Country Championships are likely to be affected by an Athletics Ireland endurance camp currently taking place in Font Romeu. That said, universities from across the island will bring colour and enthusiasm to Tymon Park, and up-and-coming athletes will seize the opportunity to shine.

Pierre Murchan (TCD), Callum Morgan (QUB) and Niall Murphy (UL) took the individual honours in the men's race last year while University of Galway won the team title. Fiona Everard (University of Galway), Amy Greene (DCU) and Hannah Gilliland (QUB) won the individual medals in the women's race, while DCU took the team title just two points ahead of UCC.

The women's race on Saturday, which kicks off at 2pm, will be followed shortly after by the men at 2.30pm.

Autumn Cross Country and National Cross Country relays, Dublin, 18 October 2025

While many of the big names will likely skip this one, among the current entries for the senior races at the Autumn International Cross Country - which have not closed at the time of writing - are 2023 National Champion Fiona Everard and Euro Cross Country U23 and Senior representatives Cathal O’Reilly, William Fitzgearld, Micheál Power and Callum Morgan.

Athletes from Loughborough and Cambridge make up the international challenge this year, with last year’s winner Sophie Tarver expected to lead the way.

Entries for the National Senior Cross Country relay, which open the programme, include a host of Irish middle distance talent, including 2024 Olympian Jodie McCann, senior international Pierre Murchan, and European U23 1500m medallist Eimear Maher. There should be an exciting battle between Dublin City Harriers and Dundrum South Dublin for the title.

Competitive trials for the Masters’ Cross Country International and the National Juvenile relays will add to the atmosphere of the event in Abbotstown, which always looks splendid at this time of year.

The NCAA season, various

The US collegiate season is already underway, but the climax of the season very much coincides with the main events on Irish soil. The last big meets before conference championships take place next weekend, with the Nuttycombe Invitational and other events likely to include Irish interest.

The majority of the Division I Conference Championships take place on 31st October and 1st November, with nine Regional qualifiers on 14th November deciding the teams and individuals who will make it to the ‘big dance’ on 22nd November.

Twelve Irish athletes competed in the NCAA Division I Nationals last year, with Dean Casey 30th in the men's race and Anika Thompson 32nd in the women's race. Both are eligible to compete again this year.

A number of Irish athletes compete for Division II schools, and may earn a spot at Euro Cross via their performance at the Division II Nationals, also on 22nd November.

Irish National Cross Country Championships, Derry, 23 November 2025

The National Championships head to Ulster for the third time in four years as Derry plays host to the battle for national titles and the much-coveted spots on the European Cross Country team.

The first three in the U20 and Senior races will gain automatic selection for Lagoa, while the top two in the U23 categories will also be rewarded with Euro Cross selection.

But there are also national titles on the line. Keelan Kilrehill and Ann-Marie McGlynn are reigning senior champions, while Niall Murphy and Emma McEvoy, who took the U23 titles in 2024, are both young enough to defend their titles, as is Lucy Foster in the U20 category. Jonas Stafford, who made the U20 team three years in a row, moves up to what could be a very competitive men’s U23 category.

There have been nine different winners of the Senior men’s title in the past nine editions, Among those trying to make that 10 different winners in a row is Nick Griggs, an U23 in search of his first National senior title on any surfaces. The 2023 champions Cormac and Fiona Everard are others likely to be in contention in the senior races.

Club champions will also be decided, with the top two teams in U20 and Senior categories earning the right to represent Ireland at the European Clubs Cross Country in February.

Other domestic championships, various

Dublin Championships, Leinster and Munster Senior Championships, plus the Connaught Senior League will take place between the Autumn Cross Country and the National Cross Country Championships. The Ulster and Northern Ireland Senior Championships will be held in early February. Athletes with eligibility will also have the opportunity to race Novice and Intermediate championships, the later which will be held alongside the National Masters Championships in February.

European Cross Country Championships, Lagoa (Portugal), 14th December 2025

Having finished 4th in Dublin in 2021 and in Brussels in 2023, could 2025 finally be the year that the current generation of Irish senior men win Euro Cross team medals? Having finished second in both the U20 race (2022) and the U23 race (2024), is it time for Nick Griggs to finally win a European Cross Country title? These are just some of the questions that will be answered in the Algarve on Sunday 14th December.

The European Cross Country Championships is the pinnacle of the cross country season for most of the continent’s athletes. Indeed, for some, it will be their only cross country race of the year. The event has become a happy hunting ground for Irish athletes, and silverware has been brought home every edition since Portugal last hosted the event in 2019.

While Griggs, second in the U23 race, was the only Irish medallist in Antalya two years ago, the U23 men's team finished 4th, with all three scorers young enough to compete again this year, and the U23 women weren't a million miles from a medal either.

It appears that Ireland will send teams in all the individual races. Depending on who is available, there is also the possibility of an Irish mixed relay team. The team will be announced after the final selections are made on 25 November.

World Cross Country Championships, Talahassee FL (USA), 10th January 2026

The World Cross Country Championships will be held in January for the first time. In what seems like an attempt to maintain some interest in World Athletics’ once flagship endurance event, the global event will fall just four weeks after the continental championships.

While the Athletics Ireland selection policy has not yet been published, it’s expected that results at the National Championships in November and the European Championships in December will determine the size and composition of Ireland’s team for Tallahassee.

Eight athletes, including Fiona Everard, Danielle Donegan, Keelan Kilrehill and Hugh Armstrong in the senior races, made the journey to Belgrade for the last edition in 2024. The timing in the calendar, plus the location of the event, may mean enough athletes available to justify full senior teams.

World Cross Country Tour and other international competitions

World Cross Country Tour events take place across Europe - with a few races also in Africa - right throughout the season. Efrem Gidey and Cormac Dalton are among the Irish who have used World Tour events to sharpen up for Euro Cross in recent seasons.

While most of the events fall too close to National and European Championships for Irish athletes, some may appear at the Cardiff Cross Challenge on 8th November and one or two other events across the winter.

The European Clubs Cross Country Championship will be held in February.

A small number of Irish athletes have eligibility to compete in English (and other home nation) championships and the British University (BUCS) Championships, thereby extending their cross country seasons well into the spring.

English National is always worth a watch, especially the start of the Senior Men’s race, which sometimes includes as many as 2000 starters, and the British University championships does its best to replicate the colour and team rivalry of its US equivalent, albeit usually on a muddier course!

There’s plenty to look forward to over the next few months. Expect mud, sweat, tears, and a few surprises.

The final weekend. The last few days. After more than a year, The Road to Tokyo is coming to an end.

For many Irish athletes still competing at this point in the season, Tokyo spots have long ago been secured. Others are racing still for season’s bests and personal goals; the World Championships never was their main focus.

For a much smaller group, this weekend will be a nail-biting climax to the regular season, as they either make one last effort to secure a quota spot, or sit at home hoping that others don’t take theirs.

Being one of the designated national championship windows, there were never going to be many high-ranking meetings this weekend, but Diamond League meetings on Wednesday and Friday keep things interesting, and a number of athletes, maybe even a few Irish ones, are making a last-dash attempt to hit standards at Category F meetings in Tooting Bec and Pfungstadt.

The Scottish Championships provides an opportunity for some of the field eventers to end the season on a high. And the autumn road season is set to ignite in Larne.

Diamond Leagues in Lausanne and Brussels

Brian Fay, currently sitting precariously just inside the quota spots for Tokyo, is racing the Lausanne Diamond League this evening (Wednesday). Not only will he be hoping for a strong performance and a ranking improvement, but he’ll be hoping that none of his Road to Tokyo rivals run fast enough and finish high enough to overtake him.

The good news for Fay is that, apart from half a dozen national championship events on Sunday, this is the last opportunity before Sunday’s deadline for athletes to improve their 5000m ranking.

Lausanne will be shown live on Virgin Media Three from 7-9pm, Wed 20 Aug.

Andrew Coscoran, already qualified in the 1500m, and sitting a few places above Fay in the 5000m rankings, is on the startlist for the shorter distance at the Brussels Diamond League on Friday.

Concoran will be looking for a strong showing against a field that wouldn’t be too dissimilar to a World Championship semi-final.

Shauna Bocquet is due to race in the 400m wheelchair (T54).

Brussels will be shown live on Virgin Media Three from 7-9pm, Fri 22 Aug.

Last chance saloon in Tooting Bec

The British Milers Club (BMC) Record Breakers meeting in Tooting Bec, London, is but a Category F meeting. While lacking in potential World Ranking placing points, however, it offers fast-paced races and, for some, a final shot at the Tokyo automatic standard.

While some, particularly in the Men’s steeplechase, will be gung-ho for the Tokyo time, others are simply looking for a final blowout before the World Championships, ending the season with a personal best, or ticking off the European standard for next year before signing off for the season.

Among the Irish on the entry list are Sarah Healy and Alex O’Neill in the Women’s A 800m, Nick Griggs, Shane Bracken and James Gormley in the Men’s A 1500m, and Laura Nicholson in the Women’s A 1500m.

Kevin McGrath, Callum Morgan, Lughaidh Mallon, Seán Donoghue, Nadine Donegan and Amy O'Donoghue are also set to compete over 1500m, while  John Travers is among the entries in the 3000m.

The event will be streamed on RunnerSpace+ Plus (subscription required) from 6.25pm, Wed 20 Aug

Final Call Tokyo

Final Call Tokyo by name, final call Tokyo by nature! Darragh McElhinney and Nick Griggs are among the athletes heading to Oslo on Saturday for a final crack at the 13.01 5000m Auto Q for Tokyo.

McElhinney is currently sitting one spot outside the quota spots, with a Diamond League wildcard still to be added, and no obvious withdrawals ahead of him. If he just misses the time (i.e. 13:02 or faster), but wins, there is still a chance that he would squeeze into a quota spot.

For Griggs, it is Auto Q or bust. Despite having the Athletics Ireland B standard in two events, if he doesn't run 13:01.00 or faster, he'll be watching Tokyo from home.

Another popular category F meeting

Similar to the BMC event in London, the Pfungstädter Abendsportfest this evening (Wednesday) has an entry list of a far higher standard than its Category F status suggests. Again, athletes are using the paced races as a final opportunity to hit a time target.

While there are no Irish athletes competing, the meeting may still be worth following. Startlists and live results can be viewed here.

Scottish Championships

Among the entries for the Scottish Open Championships on Saturday and Sunday are Long Jumpers Sam Healy, Lauren Callaghan and Ruby Millet, while John Kelly is entered in the Shot Putt. 

Molly Scott is among the entries in the 100m Hurdles, which also lists Cyréne Samba-Mayela (FRA), the Olympic silver medallist, and Jamaica's Chrisma Taylor, who has a best of 12.61 - a reflection, perhaps, of the relative shortage of races this weekend and in the run-up to Tokyo.

There will also be an Irish U17 development team competing at this event and Athletics Northern Ireland are sending some senior athletes, so keep an eye out for other Irish athletes in the results.

Niamh Fogarty is also expected to compete at the Danish National Championships over the weekend.

World’s best descend on Larne

Paul O’Donnell, Ryan Creech, David McGlynn, Niamh Allen and Nichola Sheridan are among the Irish athletes set to compete alongside some of the best distance runners in the world at the Antrim Coast Half Marathon in Larne on Sunday.

Geoffrey Kamworor, a multiple World Champion at both Half Marathon and Cross Country, and Joshua Cheptegei, the reigning World and Olympic 10,000m champion and World 5000m and 10,000m record holder, headline the men’s field.

Lilian Kasait is the fastest in a women’s field that also includes European Half Marathon Champion Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal.

The race will be shown live on Youtube.

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.

As some of Europe’s top Under 20 Championships reach the climax of their seasons, senior athletes will be taking what could be a final shot at Tokyo qualification, while some of the province’s top talent will be on display at the Northern Ireland and Ulster Championships.

European Under 20 Championships

A team of 38 Irish athletes have travelled to Tampere in Finland for the European U20 Championships, where the male one-lap athletes will be particularly hopefully of medals. Conor Kelly is the fastest European U20 this year, and him and his teammates have also run the fastest 4x400m time in Europe this year.

Times, however, mean little at underage championships, where tactical nous and putting in a big performance on the day can lead to breakthrough performances and unexpected medals.

Either way, expect four action-packed days – all available to watch on Eurovision Sport.

Oordegem awaits

Saturday's IFAM Oordegem has a particularly strong entry – both from Ireland and further afield - for a Continental Tour Bronze meeting.

The men’s 5000m boasts 6 athletes with personal bests of 13 minutes or better – the ideal standard for Nick Griggs and Darragh McElhinney who are chasing Tokyo spots. That’s assuming they make it into the A race. Efrem Gidey, Cormac Dalton and Callum Morgan are also entered at this distance.

There is the chance of another head-to-head between Mark English and Cian McPhillips over 800m (English said after his win at Nationals on Sunday that he was heading back to altitude before worlds, but his name appeared on the entries here earlier this week).

Newly minted National 400m champion Sophie Becker (400m) is another whose name only appeared this week. Other one-lap entrants include Cliodhna Manning and three of the top four from the men’s race last Sunday (Chris O’Donnell, Ciarán Carthy and Andrew Egan).

Ciara Neville will be looking to build on recent momentum. She is entered for both the 100m and 200m, as is National 200m Champion Marcus Lawler.

Alex O’Neill (800m), Laura Nicholson (1500m) and Roisin Flanagan (5000m) all still have outside chances of making the team for Tokyo. Nicholson, who already has the Athletics Ireland B standard, will be looking for enough points to maintain her precarious spot within quota, while O’Neill and Flanagan first need to secure the respective standards of 2:01.00 and 15:22.00.

Seán Donoghue, Shane Bracken and Lughaidh Mallon are among those entered in the 1500m, a particularly strong event for the Irish men at the moment.

Other Continental Tour meetings

Irish athletes will be competing across a handful of other Continental Tour Bronze and Challenger meetings over the coming days.

Sarah Lavin (100m hurdles) is the sole Irish athlete on the startlists for the Serbia Athletics Meeting on Thursday where she will be looking for another positive performance.

National bronze medallist Andrew Thompson (800m) and Paralympian Greta Streimikyte (1500m) are among the Irish entrants for the final British Milers Club Grand Prix in Trafford on Saturday.

Brian Fay (3000m) is on the most recent startlist for the Folksam Grand Prix in Sollentuna on Sunday and Cathal Doyle will race the 1000m in Białystok (Poland) on Saturday.

Northern Irish and Ulster Senior Championships

While some are likely not to compete, entries for the Northern Ireland and Ulster Championships includes Sean Aigboboh (100m), Callum Baird (100m, 200m), Orla Comerford (100m, 200m), Sarah Leahy (100m), Kate O’Connor (200m, 100m hurdles), Rachel McCann (200m), Kate Doherty (400m), Anna McCauley (100m Hurdles, Long Jump), Lauren Callaghan (Long Jump), John Kelly (Shot Put) and Anna Gavigan (Discus Throw).

At close of play on Sunday, there will be just two weeks left in the Tokyo qualification window. Dreams could be very well made, or broken, this weekend.

The National Senior Championships will get August started, and the Diamond League final will draw it to a close. The European U20 Championships will take place in Tampere (Finland) from 7th to 10th, and athletes not yet guaranteed their spot in Tokyo will be making a last-ditch effort to pick up ranking points and achieve standards before the close of the qualification window later this month.

National Championships

The Irish Senior National Championships will be held in Santry stadium on 2nd and 3rd August. Irish titles are always highly coveted, and some exciting racing is guaranteed. We’ve highlighted elsewhere some of the events and athletes to look out for.

Both days of the National Championships will be shown live on the Athletics Ireland Youtube channel. The 100m, 400m, 800m and 1500m track finals will be shown live on RTÉ 2 from 5:00-7:30pm on Sunday evening.

Diamond Leagues

While the season may feel like it’s drawing to a close, there are still regular-season Diamond League events in Silesia (16th August), Lausanne (20th August) and Brussels (22nd August), as well as the final in Zurich on 27th and 28th of August.

Startlists are not yet available for any of these events, but we know that Sarah Healy has already done enough to qualify for the final in the 1500m and that she will race both that and the Silesia meeting. She has had an outstanding year already, and has picked up four top-three finishes in the earlier meetings this season.

Diamond League events are shown on Virgin Media.

European U20 Championships

A very strong Irish team will head to Tampere in the coming days for the European U20 Championships. Conor Kelly and the men’s 4x400m relay team, both at the top of the 2025 European U20 rankings, are among those with medal aspirations.

Sean Doggett (400m) and Cormac Dixon (3000m, 5000m) and others will be looking for top 8 finishes. Ireland have qualified teams in all four relays, ensuring that many athletes will be exposed to competition at this level for the first time.

All sessions of the championship will be shown live and on demand on Eurovision Sport.

Continental Tour Meetings

The penultimate Continental Tour gold of the 2025 season, the Gyulai István Memorial/Hungarian Athletics Grand Prix will take place in Budapest on 12th August. Among the world starts announced to date are Femke Bol, Mondo Duplantis and Miltiádis Tentóglou. While it’s not yet known if any Irish athletes will be joining them, this promises to be one of the best meetings of the year. Continental Tour Gold meetings tend to be shown on the World Athletics streaming platform.

The Continental Tour silver meetings in Banská Bystrica (Slovakia) on 8th August and Bern (Switzerland) on 16th August, will offer final opportunities for athletes to boost their Road to Tokyo rankings before the end of the qualification window. We’ll update these meetings with Irish athletes if and when any are named on the startlists.

IFAM Oordegem (Belgium) on 9th August (Continental Tour Bronze) promises to be a busy one for Irish athletes, and may be a last-chance opportunity for some to make the team for Tokyo. Nick Griggs, Darragh McElhinney, Efrem Gidey, Jack O’Leary, Cormac Dalton and Roisin Flanagan are all entered for 5000m. Shane Bracken and Seán Donoghue are listed for the 1500m, while Cian McPhillips, Emma Moore and Alex O’Neill are all down for the 800m. Athletes entered for the 400m include Jack Raftery, Cillín Greene, Chris O’Donnell, Cliodhna Manning, Arlene Crossan and Kelly McGrory.

The final BMC Grand Prix (Continental Tour Challenger) will be held at Trafford on 9th August and is likely to feature Irish athletes.

Among the current entries for the Continental Tour Challenger Meeting voor Mon in Belgium on 16 August are Chris O’Donnell (200m, 400m), Lauren Cadden (400m), and Nick Griggs and Shanee Bracken (1500m).

Other events

Irish athletes will be looking for fast times, big jumps and long throws, and to make the most of late-season form, at a number of meetings in the UK over the coming weeks. With the qualification window now open for next summer’s European Championships in Birmingham, there’s still much to play for.

Indeed, entries for the Northern Ireland and Ulster Senior (open) Championships include a number of athletes who’ll be looking to make the Northern Ireland team for Birmingham. Kate O’Connor and Anna McCauley have both already secured the consideration standard in the heptathlon. O’Connor is entered for the 200m and 100m hurdles while McCauley is due to compete in the long jump and 100m hurdles.

Other notable entries include Sean Aigboboh (100m), Callum Baird (100m, 200m), Orla Comerford (100m, 200m), Sarah Leahy (100m), Rachel McCann (200m), Lauren Callaghan (Long Jump), John Kelly (Shot Put) and Anna Gavigan (Discus Throw).

The Stratford Speed meetings have been a happy hunting ground for Irish athletes in search of fast times, and it was at the August edition of last year’s series that Israel Olatunde set the national 100m record. Early entries for that event this year (17 August) include Olatunde, along with Michael Farrelly, Sean Aigboboh, Molly Scott, Ciara Neville and Sarah Leahy.

Ireland’s top pole vaulters this season – Conor Callinan and Clodagh Walsh – are both among the Irish entries for the Vault Manchester Summer Series meeting on 6th August.

A number of Irish athletes broke personal bests at the British Milers Club Record Breakers meeting at Tooting Bec last year, and some may return for mid-week action there on 20th August.

Two big half marathons towards the end of the month will herald the start of the autumn road racing season. The Antrim Coast Half Marathon in Larne on 24th August is attracting some of the biggest global names in endurance running with Greffory Kamworor and Joshua Cheptegei among those expected to start. Less than a week later, the National Half Marathon Championships will take place in Tullamore. Both races should feature strong domestic fields.

Before then, Peter Lynch, Barry Keane & Fearghal Curtin, three of Ireland's top road runners, are due to compete at the Beach to Beacon 10km in Cape Elizabeth (USA) on Saturday 2nd August.

Whether this will be a National Championships of the ages, only time will tell. But it’s certainly shaping up that way.

There are absences. That’s for sure. And a giant Thomas Barr-sized hole in the men’s 400m hurdles field. The timing, too, has made it difficult for U20 athletes, focusing on European U20s, and the US-based college athletes, who’ve been racing all season, to compete.

Despite some last-minute withdrawals, most of the recent championship medallists are expected to be there. The entry list also boasts nine current national senior outdoor record holders, and others who have their eyes firmly set on that particular prize. Indeed, a national record this weekend would not be completely beyond expectations.

And beyond the stars, there’s plenty else to interest casual and diehard athletics fans, including guaranteed first-time champions and others looking to extend their run of titles. Here is just some of what might grab your attention across two fierce days of competition.

The clash in the dash

Last year, the men’s 100m saw one of the closest finishes of the weekend. That Bori Akinola finished just 0.02 behind national record holder Israel Olatunde was then somewhat of a surprise. Even more so considering that Olatunde further reduced his record to 10.12 a few weeks later.

This year, not only would a close finish be much less of a surprise, but it is absolutely expected. The two met over 60 metres at the National Indoor Championships in February, and while Akinola was the clear winner on that occasion, Olatunde has found some form of late.

They haven’t raced each other since then, but their performances couldn’t be more closely matched. In Geneva, on the same day they joined forces to break the long-standing national 4x100m relay record, they raced in separate heats of the 100m. Both ran their wind-legal season’s bests that day: Olatunde 10.23 (+0.9) and Akinola 10.25 (-0.4).

Akinola ran the fastest 100m ever by an Irish man in Stratford in June, a wind-assisted 10.10 (+2.9), on the same track as Olatunde ran the Irish record (10.12) last season. More recently, Olatunde took the win at the Morton Games in 10.20w (+2.3), and Akinola ran 10.17w (+2.5) in Stratford a few days later.

There’s very little to separate them on paper, and with a national title on the line – it would be Akinola’s first outdoors; Olatunde is going for five in a row – there may be even less to separate them when they cross the line on Sunday.

The battle for bronze may be even fiercer. Don’t miss one of the greatest sights in Irish athletics at 6:10pm on Sunday evening as 10 of Ireland’s fastest men, and everything they represent, hurtle down the Santry home straight, potentially with the wind in their backs.

Blink and you’ll miss it. Experience it and you’ll be coming back for more!

Pride and Tokyo places at stake in the women’s middle-distance events

With a number of possible subplots, the women’s 800m and 1500m could be particularly exciting.

Having the season of her life, Sarah Healy might look like the nailed-on favourite for the 800m, but the event also includes another athlete who has run 2:00 this season.

Jenna Bromell is actually the fastest Irish woman over the distance this season, having run 2:00.53 in Belfast in early May, a time inside the Athletics Ireland B standard for Tokyo. While she is unlikely to rack up enough ranking points to be invited, a fast time here would boost her chances of making the European Championships in Birmingham next year.

Alex O’Neill, who recently ran 2:01.70 and Maeve O’Neill, who has been incredibly consistent this season, add further spice to a potentially exciting showdown.

Jodie McCann or Laura Nicholson still have a chance of joining Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan in the 1500m in Tokyo. Indeed, in the unlikely but certainly possible event of Healy winning the Diamond League final, both could make it.

McCann is currently within quota, but doesn’t have the Athletics Ireland B standard (4:08.00). Nicholson has the B standard but isn’t currently within quota. European U23 bronze medallist Eimear Maher is also not far off either the B standard or the quota spaces.

McCann ran herself into an Olympic spot thanks to her front-running tactics in the 5000m last year, though she would hope to not have to do it all herself over the shorter distance. McCann, Nicholson and Maher potentially all benefit from a fast race on Sunday. Will any of them be willing to set the pace?

Another potential mouthwatering clash in the men’s 1500m

The men's 1500m is almost always guaranteed to be a close-fought race. This year should be no different.

National record holder Andrew Coscoran is entered for both the 1500m and the 5000m, and has indicated on Instagram on Thursday that he will be doing the shorter event. Even if he chooses to do the 5000m (where, unlike in the 1500m, he is still looking to secure his spot in Tokyo), it still promises to be a cracker of a race.

There’s never much to choose between himself and Cathal Doyle, both of whom have the Auto Q for Tokyo, but Nick Griggs would very much love to spring a surprise, if not a complete shock, and win his first National Senior title.

Darragh McElhinney, James Gormley, Shane Bracken, Seán Donoghue, Lughaidh Mallon, Callum Morgan and Ronan McMahon-Staggs have all run sub 3:40 this season, and each has the potential to make the podium on their day, especially if any of the big three don’t show.

Expect trepidation, elbows, and a final lap dust-up.

Throws talent on display

Ireland winning three medals at the European Throws Cup earlier this year may have come as a shock to many, but the truth is that Ireland is in a healthy position in the throwing events right now.

Eric Favors, a regular at major championships, will be looking for the Athletics Ireland B standard to secure his spot in Tokyo. Expect a big cheer if he surpasses 20.40 on Saturday.

Nicola Tuthill already has three championship medals under her belt this season – European Throws Cup U23 gold, European U23 silver, World University Games silver – and has almost certainly secured her spot in Tokyo. Already an Olympian, the only thing seemingly missing is the national record.

2021 and 2022 National javelin champion Conor Cusack threw 75.18 metres a few weeks ago, putting him 3rd on the Irish all-time list, and anything close to that on Saturday will make for spectacular viewing.

Niamh Fogarty broke the long-standing women’s discus record earlier this year, and while she will be favourite to win what would be an eighth national discus title, a mediocre day might open the door for European Throws Cup medallist Anna Gavigan.

All-in-all, implements of the throwing variety could be flying a long way over the two days.

Streaking away

Over the past decade, Saragh Buggy has been peerless. She has 23 national senior wins, including nine consecutive outdoor triple jump titles. On Saturday, she’ll be looking to make that 10 in a row, but will have to overcome Greek national Daphni Doulaptsi-Teeuwen, who has beaten her, albeit by very small margins, three times this season.

Others on a run include Kate Veale (5000m walk), who has five consecutive titles and 10 in total; Seán Mockler (hammer) looking for his fifth consecutive hammer title; Sarah Lavin going for five in a row (and 10 altogether) in the 100m hurdles; Sommer Lecky looking for her fourth consecutive high jump title, Michael Healy looking for four in a row in the Weight for Distance, and the aforementioned Israel Olatunde, going for a fifth 100m title, and Doyle, going for his fourth consecutive 1500m title.

If Mark English chooses to run the 800m, he’ll be looking for his 10th title. Brian Fay (5000m), Reece Ademola (Long Jump), Favors (Shot Put), Fogarty (Discus), and Tuthill (Hammer) could all extend their current streaks to three.

Changing of the guard

Thomas Barr won 12 of the last 14 Men’s 400m hurdles titles, including every edition since 2012. Following his retirement, a first-time winner in that event is guaranteed.

Michelle Finn has won 10 of the 18 women’s steeplechase titles ever contested, including the past seven. In her absence, somebody new will take the honours.

Both Barr’s and Finn’s shoes are big ones to fill, but expect those who benefit from their absence to cherish their moment on the top step of the podium.

No matter the year, the event, or the athlete’s prior accomplishments, Irish Senior titles always mean a lot. If you don’t believe us, get yourself there over the weekend and experience for yourselves just what winning a title means to the best of Irish athletics talent.

(article updated following the announcement of some high-profile withdrawals)

The sometimes complicated, often cumbersome system of qualification by ranking points was first introduced for the 2020 Olympics. As we reach the three-and-a-half weeks to go point on our second trip along the Road to Tokyo, it’s worth taking stock of who is still on the journey, what they still have to do, and what impact this weekend’s National Senior Championships might have.

The basics

While, for the majority of events, qualification standards from 1st August 2024 have been acceptable, rankings are calculated for a 12-month period, so only performances between 25th August 2024 and 24th August 2025, in addition last year’s European Championships (most recent global championships) and Olympic Games performances, can contribute to an individual’s ranking score.

The relatively generous placing points available for National Championships (classified as category B events, the same as Continental Tour Silver meetings), means that results on Saturday and Sunday could have a significant impact on final rankings.

The often-tactical distance races at National Championships, however, means that the performance scores are sometimes so low that no matter how many additional points are on offer, they’re not going to improve an individual’s score.

And while athletes might be excited by the potential boost that a win in a fast time (or long distance) might give their ranking, they should remember that athletes from most other countries are also benefiting from relatively easy access to category B points this weekend.

For the past two years, the National Championship weekend fell right at the close of the qualification window, so it held particular significance for those still seeking Auto Qs, B standards and ranking points.

This year, athletes will still have three weeks to pick up points and get themselves within a quota spot for Tokyo, but there is an ever-diminishing number of opportunities to do so. Few athletes who do not already have the Auto Q will be invited to any of the remaining three regular-season Diamond League meetings, or the Continental Tour Gold (Cat A) meeting in Budapest.

Continental Tour Silver (Cat B) meetings in Slovakia and Switzerland may provide further qualification opportunities, as would an outstanding performance at any of the half-dozen or so remaining European-based Continental Tour Bronze meetings.

Irish athletes already selected and qualified

Irish athletes who benefited from last Summer’s Olympics being included in the qualification window include Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley, Sarah Healy, Sophie O’Sullivan and Sarah Lavin who all achieved the standard in Paris.

Andrew Coscoran (1500m) achieved the required mark indoors and Mark English, Cian McPhillips (800m) and Cathal Doyle (1500m), as well as Adeleke in the 200m, did so earlier this summer. Barring injury, there isn’t currently any reason why these athletes shouldn’t all be on the plane to Tokyo.

The women’s 4x400m relay and the mixed 4x400m relay both secured their spots at the World Relays in early May. Results in the 400m races this weekend may well help determine the makeup of these teams.

Marathon runners Hiko Tonosa, Peter Lynch and Fionnuala McCormack were all within quota at the end of the qualification window for that event, and have already been selected for Tokyo.

Athletes within quota, with the B standard

In addition to obtaining a quota invite from World Athletics, Irish athletes must also have achieved the B standard set by Athletics Ireland, or be selected for a relay team (i.e. already be on the plane), to be selected for the Irish team.

Kate O’Connor (Heptathlon), ranked 13th with 24 places available is the best placed of all the Irish athletes currently within quota. With few multi-event competitions still to take place, she is all but guaranteed her spot in Tokyo.

Nicola Tuthill (ranked 22 in the Hammer, with 36 places available) is almost certain to join her. Unlike O’Connor, who will now turn her attention to individual disciplines, Tuthill does still have the opportunity to improve her ranking score; the win on Sunday with a throw in the region of 68 metres would do just that.

It would appear that David Kenny (20km Walk) and Oisin Lane (35km Walk) have also done enough to secure their place in Tokyo. They are ranked 47th and 32nd, respectively. While Kenny is due to race the 10,000m on Saturday, he is unlikely to improve his ranking, as the event, not being a championship distance, only carries category D status.

The men’s 5000m is potentially interesting from an Irish perspective. Brian Fay currently sits in 36th position, with 42 places available. Not all the athletes ahead of him will choose to do the 5000m in Tokyo, but there may well be athletes who have not yet completed the required three events or have a 'dud' performance to drop from their score, and who will shoot up the rankings after their national championships or one of the subsequent meetings.

Fay is entered for the 5000m on Sunday, but in addition to winning he would need to run 13.17, or faster, to improve his ranking. Either way, he currently looks like the most likely of the Irish to make Tokyo.

Coscoran, has indicated that he would also like to make it to Tokyo in 5000m as well as the 1500m. He currently sits in 38th place in the longer event.

Should he choose the 5000m on Sunday, the win in 13:51 would improve his placing (his highest score is much higher than Fay’s and his lowest score is much lower). The win and anything faster than 13:43 would see him overtake Fay in the rankings.

Athletes not within quota, with the B standard

While this group of athletes, which includes Sophie Becker, Jack Raftery and Laura Nicholson, need points rather than a specific performance, a good performance would help maximise the points they get and the likelihood of gaining one of those coveted quota spots.

Having been injured for part of the season, Becker is currently 10 spots outside a quota space. While she would need to win in 50.67 (which would be inside the Auto Q anyway) or faster to make the quota cut-off next week, the win and anything faster than 53.85 would improve her score ahead of other race opportunities. The win, of course, is not guaranteed.

To date, Raftery has completed sparingly during the qualification window, and while this 44.98 personal best at European Team Champs earned him 1221 points, his three lowest scores (1143, 1107 and 1100,) will all need to be upgraded dramatically if he has any chance of making the individual event.

The win on Sunday in 45.69 (the time he ran in the World University Games final) would see him still needing two performances worth 1245 points to make the leap currently required. That would probably require a couple of Diamond League starts. A time in the region of his 44.98 personal best on Sunday would make the work required in the coming weeks a little more achievable.

Nicholson hit the Athletics Ireland B standard early in the NCAA season. The World Championships may not even have been on her mind at the time. With 56 quota spots available, an increase on previous championships, Nicholson may have an easier task than most to make the team.

The win, and something in the region of 4:13 would give her enough points to be within quota as things currently stand, and while results elsewhere are likely to raise that bar, she may benefit from withdrawals and non-selections of athletes ahead of her.

Israel Olatunde (100m) has considerable work to do if he has any hope of making the quota cutoff. If he has Tokyo aspirations, he’ll be hoping for a 2.0 m/s following wind on Sunday, helping him to the win in a very fast time; multiple withdrawals from the Road to Tokyo rankings; and maybe even a Diamond League start or two later in August. Tokyo is not impossible, but it certainly seems unlikely.

Despite racing the 1500m this weekend, Darragh McElhinney still has the opportunity to make Tokyo in the 5000m. He is due to race that distance in Oordegem, Belgium on 9th August. While he has already hit the Athletics Ireland B standard, he may need to run faster again to get inside the quota.

Efrem Gidey is just 4 spots outside the quota for the 10,000m. With no 10,000m this weekend; Gidey is set to race the 5000m. He’ll be hoping that results at National Championships elsewhere don’t scupper his chances of making the team for Tokyo and that he benefits from withdrawals and non-selections of athletes from other federations.

Jenna Bromell has run inside the Athletics Ireland B standard for the 800m, but has struggled to get in the races required to achieve the required ranking. Indeed, she’ll need both the heats and finals this weekend just to meet the required five performances. A place in Tokyo is therefore unlikely.

Luke McCann (800m) and James Dunne (1500m), who have the required B standards are both currently injured, and Sophie O’Sullivan, who has the B standard in the 800m, is likely to focus on the 1500m.

Athletes in quota without the B standard

Eric Favors has spent the last month picking up ranking points, moving from just outside quota, to four spots inside it. It now appears that all he needs to do is get the Athletics Ireland B standard of 20.40.

Favors set a new season’s best of 20.05 in his most recent competition, and will be looking to improve further on Saturday. He’ll then return to the US where he’ll have some final opportunities to achieve the standard if he hasn’t already done so. His PB and Irish record is 20.93 from April last year.

Jodie McCann made the 2024 Olympics at 5000m, but appears to be focusing on the 1500m this season. Her best performance of the season - 4:09.18 run indoors in February – is short of the 4:08.00 Athletics Ireland B standard. McCann’s PB is 4:08.34 from February 2024.

Others

A small number of other athletes have an outside chance of still making the team. Nick Griggs is probably the most likely of those. He doesn’t have a B standard, and would likely need to hit the Auto Q (3:33.00) to make it to Tokyo in the 1500m.

He’s more likely targeting the 5000m, which, like McElhinney, he’s due to race in Oordegem. There, he would need the win, and to go well inside the 13:18.00 B standard to have any hope of making the quota.

Of course, any athlete who hits the Auto Q would no longer need to worry about ranking points.

And so...

As things currently stand, 17 individuals and two relay teams would make it to Tokyo. The team may grow (or shrink) slightly over the next three weeks, but the situation is unlikely to change dramatically, at least until withdrawals are made. Either way, we'll keep the status of Irish athletes on the Road to Tokyo updated over the coming weeks.

Note: all calculations and references to quota cut-offs are based on the current points needed. These points will increase based on results at other national championships this weekend, and other meetings over the coming weeks, though there will be retired athletes, athletes qualified in multiple events, injured athletes, athletes serving doping bans and athletes not likely to be selected by their national federation taking up spots in the current quota allocation. Athletes will move up once these athletes have been withdrawn at the close of the qualification period.

Another significant week of athletics lies ahead. The U23 athletes will have the opportunity to win European medals in Bergen, while some of the seniors will be in action at the London Diamond League.

Closer to home, the AAI Games and National 10,000m and Multi-Event Championships will be held in Carlow. A number of athletes will also be in action in Continental Tour events in Spain, Belgium and Germany.

European U23 Championships

Nicola Tuthill (Hammer) and Nick Griggs (5000m) will lead the medal hopes of a strong Irish team at the European U23 Championships which will run from Thursday 17th to Sunday 20th July.

Medals, however, won’t come easy, and with some of the world’s top eligible athletes due to compete, this could be one of the greatest editions of the biannual event to date.

Among the entries in the men’s 5000m, for example, are Olympic 1500m finalist Niels Laros (NED), European U23 Cross Country Champion Will Barnicoat (GBR), World U20 3000m Champion Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen (NOR) and the 2021 European U20 5000m champion Joel Ibler Lilleso and Jonathan Grahn (SWE) who beat Griggs to the European U20 3000m title in 2023.

Tuthill is ranked third in the field on personal best and one of just three athletes to have thrown beyond 70 metres. She will look to utilise the championships experience she gained in Rome and Paris last year to turn her fourth place finish in 2023 to a place on the podium this time around.

Other Irish athletes to watch out for include Ava O’Connor, ranked fourth on time in the women’s steeplechase, Abdel Laadjel who will be desperate to improve on his 4th place from 2023, Eimear Maher in the 1500m, and Anika Thompson who is highly ranked in both the 5000m and 10,000m.

The event will be streamed on EuroVision Sport across all sessions, including dedicated streams for field events.

London Diamond League

The London Diamond League always tends to be the busiest for Irish athletes, and this year is no different, with three individual athletes and a relay team on the startlist.

Mark English is set to race in a star-studded men’s 800m; a race that includes 3 of the top 4 from last year’s Olympic final, and 6 of the 20 fastest 800m athletes of all time.

Sarah Healy is set to compete in the rarely-run women’s mile. She’ll be up against Jessica Hull and Gudaf Tsegay, among others. The Irish record stands at 4:14.58 (Ciara Mageean, 2023).

Rhasidat Adeleke is on the 200m startlist, alongside her training partners Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred and 2019 World 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith.

The women’s 4x100m relay team will compete in the pre-programme against teams from Great Britian, Australia, Canada, France and Jamaica.

The event will be broadcast Virgin Media Two from 2-4pm on Saturday. The relay will, unfortunately, fall outside the broadcast window.

Domestic action

The AAI Games incorporating the National 10,000m Championships and the National Combined Event Championships will be held at SETU Carlow on Saturday and Sunday, while the Irish Runner National 10 mile Championships will be held at the Phoenix Park on Sunday.

While many of the big track stars are missing from the AAI Games, some in-form field eventers and a pair of Paralympians are among the entries.

Conor Cusack, who earlier this week set a new Javelin PB of 75.18 in Luzern (3rd Irish all-time) will look to continue his recent form. Conor Callinan (pole vault) has set PBs in each of his last three competitions.

Reece Ademola, just back to competition after injury is among the long jump entries; multi national title holder Saragh Buggy in on the triple jump startlist, and we should expect to see Seán Mockler in the hammer.

Orla Comerford (100m, 200m) and Greta Streimikyte (1500m) are also entered, as are Colin Doyle (100m, 200m), Michael Farrelly (100m) and Cliodhna Manning (400m)

It is expected that Athletics Ireland will provide a livestream across the two days.

Continental Tour meetings

Ciarán Carthy, Hugo Magee and Orla Leer (all 400m) are on the startlist for Meeting International d'Athlétisme de la Province de Liège (CT bronze) tonight (Wednesday) in Belgium.

Marcus Lawler (100m, 200m) and Israel Olatunde (100m) are entered for PUMA Fast Arms Fast Legs (CT Challenger) in Wetzlar, Germany on Friday.

Sophie Becker (400m), Jenna Bromell (800m) and Eric Favors (Shot Put) will all be looking to pick up valuable world ranking points at Meeting Madrid on Saturday (CT Silver).

Rachel McCann (400m), Alex O'Neill (800m), Jodie McCann, Seán Donoghue (1500m),Brian Fay and Darragh McElhinney (5000m) are on the main programme startlist for KBC Nacht van de Atletiek (CT Bronze) in Heusden-Zolder on Saturday. Cillín Greene, Cliodhna Manning, Arlene Crossan (400m), Amy O'Donoghue, Kevin McGrath (1500m), David McGlynn (5000m) and Amy O'Donoghue (1500m), among others, are on the pre- and after-programme startlists for the same meeting.

Ronan McMahon-Staggs is on the startlist for the 1500m at Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto, while Charlie O'Donovan will race the same distance at Stumptown Twilight in the US.

As soon as we get through all the above, we're straight into the FISU World University Games, where nine Irish athletes will be competing.

Many Irish athletes will be sitting out this weekend as they prepare for the continental tour meetings in Cork and Dublin next week, but there is still plenty to look forward to, including the Eugene Diamond League and what promises to be a stellar National U20 and U23 Championships.

Diamond League
Sarah Healy has finished in the top-3 in her three Diamond League appearances so far this year, but the 1500m in Eugene on Saturday will be her toughest test yet. She will face the top 4 from last Summer’s Olympic Games and 6 of the other top 10 in the World Rankings right now.

While not a Diamond League event, there is a strong field in the women’s 400m. Rhasidat Adeleke, whose fastest time this season is 50.42, will face five athletes who have run sub-50 seconds already in 2025, including Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the world record holder at 400m hurdles.

This 50th anniversary Prefontaine Classic includes a number of races for para athletes.  Paris bronze medallist Orla Comerford will race the mixed-category 100m while Shauna Bocquet will compete in the T54 (wheelchair) 800m.

The Eugene Diamond League will be broadcast in Ireland on Virgin Media Three. The Women’s 400m is at 9.51pm while the women’s 1500m closes the programme at 10.50pm, both within the 9-11pm broadcast window. The para events are earlier.

National U20 and U23 Championships
Most of Ireland’s top emerging talent will be competing at the National U20 and U23 Championships in Tullamore on Saturday, though not all will be contesting their usual events.

Among those entered, and expected to compete, are Nick Griggs, Conor Kelly, Maeve O’Neill, Ava O’Connor, Conor Callinan, Elizabeth Ndudi and Anna Gavigan. See Athletics Ireland preview for more.

Athletics Ireland will be livestreaming the event on Youtube, and spectator tickets are available for just €10 (plus booking fee). Action starts at 10am.

Continental Tour meetings
Andrew Coscoran is on the 1500m startlist at the Meeting Stanislas Nancy (Continental Tour Silver) in France on Friday evening.

Lauren Callaghan (Long Jump) is on the startlist for the IX Ordizia Meeting (Continental Tour Bronze) in Spain on Saturday.

Elsewhere
The preliminary round of the National League will take place on Sunday, and while it's not clear who exactly will be competing, we should expect at least some of the top field event athletes there.

With two Continental Tour Bronze meetings, the National U20 and U23 Championships, the AAI Outdoor Games and the National Combined Events Championships all happening at home, there are plenty of opportunities for athletics fans to watch some top athletics in person this July.

The FISU World University Games following immediately after the European U23 Championships, both of which are expected to feature strong Irish contenders, means that there are 11 consecutive days of championship action to round out another busy month.

There are also three Diamond League meetings, including the closest thing we have to a home one in London on 19 July, and plenty of Continental Tour silver meetings, which are great for world ranking points, across Europe and beyond.

Cork City Sports

Another exciting edition of the Cork City Sports is scheduled for Wednesday 9th July. While full startlists have yet to be announced, we should expect Bori Akinola, Marcus Lawler, Israel Olatunde, Phil Healy, Lucy-May Sleeman, Sarah Leahy, Ciara Neville, Molly Scott and Sarah Lavin across in the sprints and hurdles. Nicola Tuthill (hammer) and Eric Favors will be in action in the field, while Sophie O’Sullivan is among the distance athletes due to compete.

Morton Games

Just two days after Cork, athletes will take to the track (and field) at Morton Stadium for what promises to be another night of excitement at the Morton Games. Among the Irish senior internationals scheduled to compete are Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker, Cathal Doyle, Sarah Lavin, Israel Olatunde, Bori Akinola, Sophie O’Sullivan, Efrem Gidey, Cian McPhillips, Nick Griggs, Niamh Fogarty, Jack Raftery, Eric Favors and Louise Shanahan.

Other Domestic Competitions

The month kicks off with the National U20 and U23 Championships as athletes look to secure their place on the relevant European age-group championships later this summer. Among the U23 athletes entered are Nicola Tuthill, Elizabeth Ndudi, Nick Griggs and Ava O’Connor. The men’s 400m looks to be hotly contested in both the U20 and U23 age groups.

Later in July, the AAI Outdoor Games will provide a tune-up opportunity for Irish athletes ahead of August’s National Championships. The event, which will be held in Carlow, will incorporate the National 10,000m Championships and will be run alongside the National Senior and age-group combined events Championships.

Both the preliminary round and the final of the National League will also take place in July, and the 2025 Dublin Graded programme will conclude with meeting 7 and meeting 8.

Three Diamond League meetings in July

The Eugene Diamond League/Prefontaine Classic, the Monoco Diamond League and the London Diamond League will all take place this month.

Sarah Healy (1500m) will race the Diamond League 1500m in Eugene, where Rhasidat Adeleke (400m), Orla Comerford (Para 100m) and Shauna Bocquet (Para 800m) will contest non-Diamond League events.

Adeleke will run the 400m in Monacco, a race which she won last year. Mark English (800m) is among the Irish athletes we should expect to see in London.

European U23 Championships

We have a few days to wait until the Irish team is announced for the European U23 Championships, but it is likely to be one of the strongest yet. Last time out, in 2023, Sophie O’Sullivan and Sarah Healy went 1-2 in the 1500m. It would be a disappointment if the current crop doesn’t add further hardware in Bergen.

Update: the team has been selected.

World University Games

The Irish team is yet to be announced, but it’s likely that approximately 10 athletes will represent Ireland in the track and field programme at the FISU World University Games.

Ireland did not compete at the last edition, but Marcus Lawler won bronze in the 200m at the previous edition, while Thomas Barr won the 400m hurdles in 2015. Ronnie Delany (1961), Sonia O’Sullivan (1991) and Derval O’Rourke (2005) are also among previous medal winners.

Other Meetings

There are no Continental Tour Gold meetings in July, but there are plenty of silver meetings. Start lists have not yet been released for these, but there are likely to be Irish competitors chasing Road to Tokyo ranking points right through the month.

Cliodhna Manning, Shane Bracken, Lauren Callaghan, Cillian Kirwan, Gina Akpe-Moses, Rachel McCann, Ciarán Carthy, Rachel McCann, Arlene Crossan, Sen Donoghue, Darragh McElhinney and David McGlynn are among those already appearing on Continental Tour Bronze and Challenger meetings across Europe in July.

Another trip to Statford is also on the cards for some of Ireland’s top sprinters.

Key dates for July

5 Jul: National U20 & U23 Championships, Tullamore
5 Jul: Eugene Diamond League, Live on Virgin Media
9 Jul: Cork City Sports, MTU
11 Jul: Morton Games, Morton Stadium
11 Jul: Monaco Diamond League, Live on Virgin Media
17-20 Jul: European U23 Championships, Bergen, Norway; Live on Eurovision Sport
19 Jul: London Diamond League; Live on Virgin Media
19-20 Jul: AAI Outdoor Games, Carlow, including National Combined Events Championships
21-27 Jul: World University Games, Rhine-Ruhr, Germany; Live on FISU website

The European Team Championships is the main event this weekend, but while some of the top athletes are taking advantage of a break in the Diamond League calendar to get some training done, there are still other events with Irish interest this weekend.

Nick Griggs will continue his comeback from injury/illness with his first 5000m of the season, a strong U20 team will compete in Germany, and others will be looking for personal bests abroad and at the Irish Milers Club meeting in Dublin.

European Team Championships (Saturday and Sunday)

Ireland streaked to victory (and promotion) when they competed in Division 3 of the European Team Championships two years ago, but they will find much tougher opposition, particularly in the field events, back in Division 2.

Despite some of the big names not being available for selection, athletes in many of the track events, particularly from 400m upwards, will be expected to collect big points. Sharlene Mawdsley (400m), Sarah Lavin (100m hurdles) and the mixed 4x400m relay team will be targeting top spot.

This being Europe, the field events will be trickier. Take the women’s hammer throw, for example. Nicola Tuthill is currently ranked 20th on the Road to Tokyo. Only 27 women in the world have thrown further than her this year. Three of those (the Romanian, Danish and Norwegian competitors) will line up against Nicola on Sunday.

Eric Favors, too, is ranked 4th based on season’s best in the 16-man shot put field, while David Cussen, ranked equal 5th in the high jump, is another possibility for decent field event points.

The key to respectability will be ensuring that nobody ends up with a no mark, and that all perform at or near their best. The different rules used for vertical jumps, with athletes only allowed four fouls in total across all attempts, will affect the results. Whether they work in Ireland’s favour or not is yet to be seen.

The event will be streamed on European Athletics. Action starts at 1.30pm (Irish time) on both days, with the mixed relay concluding the programme on Sunday evening.

Continental Tour Bronze and Challenger meetings (Friday and Saturday)

A small number of Irish athletes will be competing in the handful of Continental Tour meetings happening this weekend.

Among them are Nick Griggs who will have his first run out over 5000m since returning from prolonged illness/injury at the Meeting National de Carquefou (CT Challenger) in France on Saturday. His training partner Callum Morgan will also be racing the 5000m there, while Mark Milner will be running the 1500m.

On Friday, Lauren Callaghan is on the start list for the long jump at the International Sparkassenmeeting (CT Challenger) in Germany. Fresh from her recent PB, Victoria Amiadamen will compete over the 400m hurdles at the Midsommer meeting in Berlin on Saturday.

Domestic action

Some strong fields have been assembled for the Irish Milers Club Crucaders AC meeting on Saturday, where there will be 400m, 800m and 1500m races for both men and women, as well as 3000m for the women, and 5000m for the men.  

The women's 1500m is looking particularly strong with Amy O'Donoghue, Niamh Kearney, Roisin Treacy, Ellie Hartnett and Cheryl Nolan among the entries. Paralympian Greta Streimikyte will race the B race.

The Biofreeze Irish Runner National 5 Mile Road Race will take place in Phoenix Park on Sunday morning (9am start).

Elsewhere

A very strong U20 team will compete at the Bauhaus Juniorengala in Mannheim, Germany, on Saturday and Sunday. Mountain Runner Zak Hanna will be taking on le Cross du Mont-Blanc (23km) on Saturday.

The Bislett Games/Oslo Diamond League on Thursday evening (12th June) will get the weekend off to an early start, and there's Irish interest both there and at the Stockholm Diamond League on Sunday.

There are plenty of other meetings to look forward to across the weekend, including the NCAA Div I finals, which started in Eugene, Oregon on Wednesday.

Diamond League

Rhasidat Adeleke will run her first individual 400m of the season in Oslo on Thursday, while Mark English will hope to continue the form that has seen him twice break his own national 800m record in recent weeks. The event will be televised live on Virgin Media 2 from 7-9pm on Thursday evening. Rhasidat will take to lane 6 at 7.04pm, while Mark will follow at 7.19pm.

Rhadisat will also compete over 400m at the Stockholm Diamond League on Sunday. The event will again be shown live on Virgin Media 2, from 5-7pm. Rhasidat’s race is due off at 6pm.

NCAA Championships

Seven Irish athletes qualified for the NCAA Division I Championships – five in individual events and two as part of 4x100m relay teams. Seán Mockler (Hammer) and Shane Brosnan (10,000m) competed on Wednesday finishing 21st and 23rd respectively. Diarmuid O’Connnor also got his Decathlon underway, finishing day 1 in 13th position.

Thursday will be a busy day for the Irish with Diarmuid competing in day 2 of the decathlon, Sophie O’Sullivan (1500m), Maeve O’Neill (800m), Lucy-May Sleeman (4x100m) and Lauren Roy (4x100m) all in semi-final action. Those who qualify will compete in finals on Saturday.

Domestic Action

There are strong fields entered for the Belfast BMC on Saturday. The women’s 800m is looking particularly strong with Emma Moore, Greta Streimikyte, Ellie Hartnett and Alex O'Neill among the entries. Cara Laverty will face in-form steeplechasers Niamh Kearner and Roisin Treacy, among others, in the 1500m, Stephen Scullion, Amy Greene and Grace Richardson are among the entries for the 3000m races. The event will conclude with the men’s mile where Callum Morgan, Oisín Ó Gailín, Cathal O'Reilly, Lughaidh Mallon and Nick Griggs are all listed.

Robert McDonnell, David Bosch and Marcus Lawler are all entered in the 200m at the 5th Dublin Graded Meeting of the year.  Others set to compete include Conor Callinan in the Pole Vault and Michael Healy (Discus Throw),

Continental Tour Bronze and Challenger meetings

A number of Irish athletes will be seeking personal bests, world ranking points and maybe even qualification standards as they compete around Europe this weekend.

Callum Baird (400m), Sean Donoghue (1500m), Jodie McCann (1500m), Seán Tobin (5000m), Kate Doherty (100m Hurdles), and Sommer Lecky (High Jump) are all on the startlist for Meeting of Braga in Portugal. This is a Continental Tour Bronze meeting.

Molly Scott (100m, 100m Hurdles), Ciara Neville (100m, 200m) and Saragh Buggy (Triple Jump) are all entered for the EAP Malta International.

Deirdre Murray (400m Hurdles), Oisin Lynch (800m), Louis O'Loughlin (800m), Robert Hewison (800m) and Ava O’Connor (1500m) are among those competing at the International Athletics Meeting of Nivelles in Belgium.

Cillian Kirwan (800m) and Cormac Dalton (5000m) will head to Track Night Vienna in search of fast times on Saturday.

Ronan McMahon-Staggs and Mark Milner (both 1500m) are on the startlist for Portland Track Festival while Charlie O'Donovan will compete at The Adrian Martinez Classic, both in the USA.

Eric Favors (Shot Put) will compete at the Johnny Loaring Classic, a Continental Tour Bronze meeting, in Canada on Sunday.

Other meetings

European 10,000m Cup winner Efrem Gidey is currently outside the quota spots for the World Championships. He is entered for the British Championships in Birmingham on Saturday where he’ll likely need to run faster than ever before to improve his Tokyo status. Jack O'Leary, Niall Murphy, Emily Haggard-Kearney and Emma McEvoy are also on the startlist.

The event is being run as part of the University of Birmingham Track and Field Festival, where Anna McCauley is also due to compete in the Heptathlon.

Next week's action will include Continental Tour action in Turku where Sarah Lavin will race the 100m hurdles, and both Andrew Coscoran and Cathal Doyle will race the 1500m; the UCD Athletics Meeting, and the Paris Diamond League where Sarah Healy is due to race the 1500m.

In case you need any reminders, the last time Coscoran and Doyle raced each other at either 1500m or the mile was that epic battle at the Morton Games in 2022.

The 1500m (and its imperial near-equivalent, the mile) is a wonderful distance. Fast and furious, slow and tactical, or steady with a gradual and sustained burn-up, it is always exciting, but especially where there are championship medals on the line. 

The standard doesn’t always have to be elite for races to be interesting, but with the maximum six spots filled at both the Olympics in Paris and the World Championships in Budapest, Ireland is currently experiencing a golden age of metric milers.

And over the past five years, we’ve been treated to some particularly special 1500m and mile races, involving Irish athletes, at home and abroad.

These are some of our favourites.

Who even won this one?

Robinson versus Tobin, Irish National Senior Men’s 1500m final, 23 August 2020

A few weeks later than originally planned, the 2020 Irish Championships stretched out over two weekends in late August. Fans were banned. Coaches watched through the gate from Santry Park. With additional Covid-19 restrictions in place in Kildare, some athletes couldn’t even make it to north Dublin. And with Olympic qualification suspended, there were no world ranking points on offer.

Deprived of athletics action for much of the preceding six months, the average athletics fan would have watched snails race on a treadmill by this point; some probably already had. The athletes, too, were desperate to make the most of every available race opportunity. And Athletics Ireland dearly wanted to maintain the unbroken streak of national championships, which stretches back to 7 July, 1873. 

Any sort of racing would have sufficed; a race finish going viral (still too soon, perhaps?) across the world was more than anyone could have wished for.

The men’s 1500m, which concluded session five on the first weekend, featured two names we’d already heard a lot about, along with one we were to hear more of in the future.

Paul Robinson won the national indoor 1500m title in 2011 and made his senior debut over the distance at the European Championships in Helsinki in 2012. He competed in the 800m at the World Championships in Moscow in 2013, after winning the national 800m title, and was fourth over 1500m at the European U23 Championships, set an Irish U23 1500m record of 3:35.22 (which stood until July 2024) and finish ninth in the U23 race at the European Cross Country Championships. 2014 picked up where 2013 left off, with new personal bests over 1,000m (2:17.93); mile (3:54.77), 3000m (7:58.56) and 5000m (13:54.34) and a fabulous fourth place at the European Championships in Zurich. At just 23 years of age, the future looked bright for Robinson and Irish middle-distance running. 

Also in 2014, aged just 19, Seán Tobin, clocked 3:59.91 to become the youngest Irish athlete (at the time) to break four minutes for the mile. He won his first national senior title, over 1500m, in 2017, the year he set his still-standing 1500m (3:41.80) and mile (3:57.00) personal bests. Tobin competed in the senior race at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships and the 2017, 2018 and 2019 European Cross Country Championships. His 10th place finish in 2018 made him the first (and, to date, only) Irish male athlete to ever finish top 10 in both the Junior/U20 and Senior races at Euro Cross. He also competed at the 2019 European Indoor Championships, over 3000m.

Andrew Coscoran, five years Robinson’s junior, was just starting to make waves. He made his senior international debut at the European Team Championships in 2019, and ran 3:37.98 indoors in February 2020. He was the reigning national senior indoor champion, and was looking to add his first national outdoor title, after silver in 2019.

***

Tobin shot into the lead approximately 50 metres in, and led through 400m in around 58 seconds. Coscoran, who had initially tried to follow, was by then 5 metres back, leading the chase.

Tobin continued to push the pace, and build the lead, into the wind. By 800m, reached in around 1:58, the gap was a good 20 metres, Robinson now the one trying to bridge the gap.

Tobin’s lead over Robinson was down to about 10 metres with a lap to go, Coscoran a further 15 or 20 metres behind.

With 300m to go, it was still Tobin, with Robinson about the bridge the gap. 

Both really wanted to win.

Both had a little bit of speed in the arsenal.

Watch what happened next without spoilers here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtsPqWFaXOE

A bit like the famous 10,000m finish between Paul Target and Haile Gebresalise at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, watching this back it’s easy for the mind to think that there’ll be a different outcome: that the hunted will be easily slain on that home straight, that the hunter, the one with the 1:45.86 800m speed, poised with 100m to go, will easily glide past. We’ve watched championship races before. We know how this ends.

But the race-watching mind doesn’t know everything.

Tobin rallied. A National title was important to him too.

They strained. They leaned. Only the photo finish could decide this one.

Two hundreds of a second separated them in the end.

Entertainment we were all long overdue. 

Relive the race from the start here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsv_LRD346c&t=6732s

Robinson, for the record, did get the nod, but it hardly seems to matter now who won; they’ll both be remembered for their part in what was a truly memorable race, one where winning was all that mattered.

Coscoran, the future Irish record holder, completed the Dublin Track Club sweep, and probably picked up a thing or two about close finishes that day. He made the Olympic semi-final the following year.

Tobin went on to win the 10,000m title on the second weekend of the championships. He ran a marathon in Antarctica in 2022, and he made the Irish team for the 2024 European Cross Country Championships, but injuries mean that we have, as yet, to see his full potential. Could 2025 be the year?

Robinson’s career, thwarted by injury after 2014, continues to ebb and flow. He ran 3:36.57 in February 2024, a reminder of what could have been.

Cian McPhillips, who finished fifth, went on to win the European U20 championships in 2021. He too knows all too well the burden of talent and the frustration of injury.

Athletics is anything but predictable. Perhaps that’s what makes it so appealing.
 

Morton Mile Classic

Coscoran, Doyle and the rest, Morton Mile, Morton Games, Santry, 2 July 2022

The gun went. Australian Callum Davies sat in behind the pacemakers. Andrew Coscoran followed. The rest were strung out behind. There was even a fall. A typical paced circuit affair.

Until it wasn’t.

With 650m to go they all started getting involved. Darragh McElhinney was the first to close up and slot in behind Coscoran. Then went Nick Griggs. Cathal Doyle and Shane Bracken followed. With 400m to go Irish athletes filled 2nd to 6th place. With 250m they were all queueing up; getting into the ideal position from which to strike. 

Coscoran, the fastest on paper. Doyle, who stunned everyone in the 1500m at the National seniors the previous week. McElhinney, a 5km specialist, with a decent kick. Griggs who ran Coscoran close over the same distance indoors. Bracken, the national 1500m silver medallist; he too with a serious turn of pace.

We were definitely in for a treat, and not of the plain jelly and ice-cream variety. This was an assiette à dessert of Michelin quality.

With 200m to go, they were four abreast behind Davies, each trying to measure their effort to perfection. None of them ready to show their cards just yet. Corscoran eventually pulled alongside Davies with 150m to go. Doyle made his move around the outside. McElhinney was wedged between them at this point, his normally sublime stride looking strained against the shorter-distance men. But he wasn’t giving this one up without a fight.

They were still four-wide into the home straight.

Then Doyle and Coscoran pulled clear. North Dub versus North Dub. Shoulder to shoulder. Stride for stride. Coscoran, first, looked to have the edge. Then Doyle levelled and inched ahead. The finish line was coming, but not quick enough. Doyle leaned. Coscoran dived. Nobody wanted to call this one.

There was a visible buzz around the track. The lads had put on a great show. The perfect finale to the 2022 Morton Games. Irish athletes would fill the top three places. Five had run under 4 minutes. But who’d won? Doyle’s supporters were celebrating. Rushing onto the track to congratulate him. He didn’t look sure. Coscoran too was waiting.

And eventually the result appeared. Coscoran had edged this one; 3:57.09 to Doyle’s 3:57.11.

Coscoran looked full of energy. Buoyed by the win, chatting, reliving the dive.

Doyle looked utterly sickened. The sweet smell of victory now the sour aftertaste of defeat.

Andrew Coscoran, here’s your big fancy trophy. Cathal Doyle, thanks for taking part.

Watch the race here!

The rematch to match all rematches

Healy v O'Sullivan, Irish National Senior Women’s 1500m final, 30 July 2023

Just a week ago they finished a metre apart in first and second at the European U23 Championships. Now Sophie O'Sullivan and Sarah Healy have to do it all over again, this time for the Irish Senior title.

Three and three-quarter laps of the track. Two in-form athletes. One national title.

O’Sullivan is looking for her first national title.

Healy is looking for revenge.

After an exceptional afternoon of finals, the Santry crowd are looking for blood. Metaphorically at least.

O’Sullivan and Healy ease ahead off the line, both doing just enough to get in front, from where they can dictate things. 

O’Sullivan slots into the lead. Healy in behind her. The rest of the field settle in to get the best view they can of this one too. 

Through 300m in 53 seconds, and the leading two have almost a 10-metre lead. The stage is all theirs.

Just before the 400m mark (reached in 71 seconds), Healy lengthens her stride and moves ahead of O’Sullivan, quickly building a three-metre lead. 

By 700m, the pace still quick, O’Sullivan has closed the gap.

2:14 through 800m. A 63 second lap. 

By 1000m the pace has slowed again. Healy still leading. O’Sullivan sitting on her shoulder.

They’re at least 80m ahead of the rest through the bell, but they’ve both slowed again.

Healy holds the inside line. O’Sullivan comes right up on her shoulder. They almost bump.

They’re jogging now.

Watching for each other’s next move.

We’re more used to seeing this sort of thing at the velodrome.

A 72-second lap.

280m to go. O’Sullivan makes a move.

Healy responds immediately. And decisively.

She has a clear gap with 200m to go.

5 metres clear with 100m to go. Looking majestic.

O’Sullivan is working hard. She’s closing on Healy down the home straight. 

But Healy finds a little more.

She takes the title. 

4.11.9 on the clock.

That’ll do.

The crowd is in shock.

They’ve never seen anything like this.

Long live this rivalry.

Watch the race here!

Bonus video: Mageean v Healy, European U23 Championships

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MNtlrVcVTg

Man down, by two

Doyle versus Griggs, 2024 Irish National Senior Indoor Men’s 1500m final, 18 Feb 2024 

With many athletes closely matched in standard and finishing speed, we’ve had some very, very special head-to-heads in recent years. Being involved in a close finish, particularly if there’s a dive or two involved, is the badge of honour the current generation seem to chase. And when it comes to the impact of diving finishes, one athlete in particular springs to mind.

Cathal Doyle started 2024 with a growing reputation for winning races. Just a week after losing out in a close finish to Andrew Coscoran at the Morton Games in 2022 (a race he ran with a broken wrist following a dive earlier that summer), he won the mile at the Cork City Sports. He later added the 2022 and 2023 National Senior titles to his growing resume.

Success at European age-group championships means that Nick Griggs, still a teenager, has been a household name since 2021. He made the Senior World Championships in 2023, picked up his second individual European U20 Cross Country medal in December, and officially graduated to the senior ranks in January 2024.

Both were on the verge of the big-time. Both had Paris in their sights. But first, both very much wanted to win a national indoor title.

After a chaotic start, Philip Marron took the lead. The main protagonists sat in fourth and fifth, Doyle on the rail, Griggs slightly more involved. With others happy to take on the pace, it remained the same through the first kilometre or so, as they rattled off 400m splits of 65 seconds, 65 seconds, and then a 58 through 1200m.

Griggs went into third with 600m to go; not so much a move, as merely paying more attention. Doyle followed. 

There were seven athletes closely bunched with 300m to go. Now Doyle took closer order. Griggs followed.

Doyle edged into the lead at the bell. Griggs, ever so slightly adrift, responded.

With 100m to go, they’d got a gap on the rest of the field. 

Doyle straining; Griggs chasing.

Doyle was still leading into the home straight. Griggs had to go wide, off the bend, and into lane two, ready to pounce.

Doyle put the head down, seemingly willing the line forward. 

Griggs too was leaving it all out on the track.

Two athletes giving it everything they had.

Neck and neck.

Just a few more metres.

Stride.

Lean.

Dive.

Both of them did their best Superman impression across the line, providing an additional obstacle for the rest of the field.

Griggs was smiling; whatever the result he knew they’d entertained.

Doyle was grimacing… and holding his wrist. 

Watch the race here!

Doyle won the precious title, and then spent the following weeks with his wrist, again, in a cast. 

Once the outdoor season got underway, he went in search of championship qualification. First up was European Championships in Rome. 38 athletes achieved the standard: 3:36.00. But there were only 32 places. His ranking score was good, but was never going to be good enough. He needed the Big Q. And he got close. 3:36.02 in Karlsruhe on 11th May; 3:36.32 in Andujar on 17th May; 3:36.14 in Brussels on 26th May. Close, but ever so far.

But there was still Paris and the Olympics to aim for, and next race out he ran 3:34.31 in Nice. Another PB (3:34.09) followed in Turku three days later; his first continental tour gold win. Then a third national senior title. And on 2nd July, confirmation that he was within quota for Paris. 

Griggs, meanwhile, did make Rome; a 3:35.90 PB in Chorzów on 18th May good enough for the Auto Q.

He didn’t amass enough points for Paris though. Instead, he rewrote the Irish U23 record books: 13:13.07 for 5000m in Santry on 12th July; 7:36.59 for 3000m in London on 20th July; And then, on 24 July in London, another 1500m PB; 3:35.04 good enough to finally eclipse Paul Robinson’s 11-year-old mark.

What might 2025 hold for these two?

Some more exciting races we hope.

But, please, no more broken wrists.
 

Patience is a virtue

Mageean versus the rest, European Championships women’s 1500m final, 9 June 2024

Ciara Mageean had never won an international title. She’d finished third at this event in 2016. In 2018 she was fourth. She won silver at the most recent edition in 2022. She also had a bronze medal from the European Indoor Championships in 2019. Silver too from Commonwealth Games. But she’d never won a title. And then she finished fourth at the 2023 World Championships.

Would 2024 be her year?

It didn’t start out that way. An injury picked up when setting the World Parkrun best in Belfast in December, and some further niggles, meant she didn’t open her 2024 season until 25th May.

But a new Irish 800m record of 1:58.51 and a win over 1500m in Ostrava, indicated she was very much in shape; and in the absence of defending champion Laura Muir, very much the one to beat in Rome. 

***

One by one the athletes are being called onto the track.

Agathe Guillemot (FRA); Ireland’s Sarah Healy; Katie Snowden (GBR); Marta Pérez (ESP);Yolanda Ngarambe from Sweden; Jemma Reekie (GBR); Nele Weßel (GER); Salomé Afonso (POR)… All running out, and sprinting down to the start line.

Ciara, walks out, calm as you like, acknowledges the crowd. If she’s bricking it, it certainly doesn’t show.

The gun goes, Reekie sprints to the front and takes the lead position on the rail. Georgie Bell, the third Britain in this race, slots in beside her. Guillemot sits on the rail right behind these two. Mageean is towards the outside of lane one, just behind Reekie and Bell. With Snowdon just behind, she’s surrounded by Brits. 

And so it stays.

67.7 through the first 400m.

Mageean sits in.

As you were through 800m.

2:16.3; a 68.7-second lap.

Still Mageean waits.

1,000m in. 

Mageean holds.

Reekie and Bell put the foot down 20 metres or so before the bell. Mageean spots the danger and follows.

It’s Reekie and Bell, neck and neck, through 1200m in 3:19.0. Mageean is still tucked in right behind. 

No panic.

How can she be so damn calm?

Guillemot, who missed the break at the bell, is chasing the leading three.

200m to go. Mageean could easily go wide. She doesn’t.

They crown the bend. Still Mageean waits.

120m to go. Reekie and Bell are still just in front. Mageean is still stuck to them like glue, but Guillemot is to her right now, blocking the way out.

There’s five or six metres between these four and Healy and Pérez in fifth and sixth. 

110m to go. Mageean needs some space. It’s clear now that she’s got the pace. But she's boxed.

Has she waited too long?

100m to go. The slightest bit of daylight appears between Reekie and Bell. Mageean ever so gently nudges her way through.

Reekie is fading.

Mageean is pulling away.

Bell and Guillemot chase hard.

The line is coming.

Nobody can catch her now.

A champion at last.

***

Patience is a virtue.

But anyone who watched Mageean race that night knows it’s much more than that.

And racing is sometimes easier than watching.

We all know that now too.

Full race with introductions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHExtUEGsD0

If it feels like there’s been non-stop championship action year after year since Covid, that’s because there has been. And it’s not due to end just yet: 2025 will be the fifth consecutive year with a global senior outdoor track and field championship.

Indeed we’re still experiencing the knock-on effects of earlier Covid-related postponements, with both European and World Indoor Championships set for March.

Here’s a summary of the significant international athletics events scheduled for 2025, the majority of which will feature Irish athletes.

European Indoor Championships, Apeldoorn, NED, 6-9 Mar

The Dutch city of Apeldoorn will play host to the sold-out European Indoor Championships over four days in early March. Athletes will qualify by qualification standard or world ranking. Nine Irish athletes have already achieved automatic qualification standards. Both the Women’s 4x400m and the Mixed 4x400m relay teams are also qualifed, with the latter making its European Indoor debut in 2025.

It’s been six years since Mark English (800m) and Ciara Mageean (1500m) won Ireland’s last European Indoor medals. Ireland’s best result last time out was Darragh McElhinney’s fourth place in the 3000m. Phil Healy finished fourth in the 400m in 2021.

It’s not clear yet who’ll be racing indoors, how many members of the giant-slaying relay teams will be available or who has wintered particularly well, but it’s difficult to see Ireland going a third consecutive European Indoor championship without a medal.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Qualification status of Irish athletes

European Throwing Cup, Nicosia, CYP, 15-16 Mar

The indoor season won’t even have concluded by the time the top throwers open their 2025 campaigns. A little bit of Mediterranean sun will help break up the winter training for those lucky enough to punch their ticket to the Cypriot capital.

Nicola Tuthill finished second in the U23 hammer at the past two editions, and may well be looking to go one better in her final year in the category, though she could instead opt to compete against the senior athletes. The ever-improving Oisin Joyce (Javelin) and Niamh Fogarty (Discus) are others who may be looking to make a mark at this level.

Event information
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Irish Athletes who have achieved consideration standards

World Indoor Championships, Nanjing, CHN, 21-13 Mar

Just two weeks after the European Indoors, the World Indoor Championships will be held in Nanjing, China. If you’re thinking it’s unusual to have two championships indoors, you’re not wrong, though it’s not completely unheard of.

China is a long way to go for an athlete early in what could be another long year. But an additional championship may offer a bonus opportunity for an athlete to get on an international rostrum, or to gain experience at this level. We will wait to see how many Irish athletes will make the trip. Rhasidat Adeleke, one of only two athletes currently qualified, has already stated that she'll be skipping both the European and World Indoors this year.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Qualification status of Irish athletes

European Running Championships, Brussels-Leuven, BEL, 12-13 Apr

The European Running Championships, which will feature 10km, marathon and half marathon championship races, is making its debut this year. The event is being billed as a festival of running, and athletes of all levels can enter to compete alongside the elite athletes.

The 10km and half marathon will be run around the streets of Leuven. The marathon will start by the Royal Palace in the centre of Brussels, and make its way east, via Tervuren Park and the Royal Museum of Central Africa, to Leuven. The half marathon will be held on Saturday 12th April, while both the 10km and marathon races will take place the following day.

The marathon championship replaces the one traditionally held with the European Championships in non-Olympic years (last held in Munich in 2022), while the half-marathon was contested alongside the European Championships in 2016 (Amsterdam) and 2014 (Rome). This will be the first time that European championship medals will be awarded for 10km on the road.

Fionnuala McCormack finished seventh in the marathon in Munich, while Shona Heaslip in 34th was Ireland’s top half-marathoner in Rome last year.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Irish athletes who have achieved consideration standards

World Relays, Guangzhou, CHN,10-11 May

Last year the best teams were fielded in the first round of both the Women’s 4x400m and Mixed 4x400m. With Olympic qualification secured in both events, all the eggs were then placed in the mixed relay basket for the final, and the team set a (then) national record and won bronze.

Both those teams are ranked high enough to be guaranteed a spot in Guangzhou, but Ideally, the Men's 4x400m team would also qualify (they finished 2024 ranked 30th on the Road to Guangzhou, so they might just be one of the 32 teams invited). The men’s 4x100m team, currently ranked 37th, would require some withdrawals to qualify.

Fourteen of the teams for the World Championships in Tokyo will be chosen from the World Relays, the other two spots will be allocated to the next two best teams on time during the qualification window.

The Irish Women’s 4x400m are currently ranked fourth, so if two of the teams ahead compete in Guangzhou and finish top fourteen, then they’ll qualify regardless (presuming that teams are not going to run faster than the time Ireland did in the Olympic final between now and close of the Tokyo window). If the Netherlands, USA and Great Britain choose to skip World Relays, Ireland have a chance of finishing top 14 in Guangzhou without their strongest team.

The Mixed 4x400m team are currently ranked 5th. In theory, they could also qualify for Tokyo irrespective of their Guangzhou performance, but that would depend on at least three of the United States, Netherlands, Great Britain and Belgium taking automatic spots, and nobody else running faster than the 3:09.92 the Irish quartet ran on their way to the European title.

Event info
Athletics Ireland selection policy

European Race Walking Team Championships, Poděbrady, CZE, 18 May

After hosting the 2021 and 2023 editions of this biannual event, Lázeňský Park in Poděbrady will again host the European Race Walking Team Championships. The event, established in 1996, now includes senior men's and women's 20km and 35km races, and 10km races for U20 men and women.

The event provides individuals with a good opportunity to obtain qualification standards for the summer’s major events. Those finishing in the top 8 in the senior events also receive bonus placing points towards world ranking scores.

The team scores in the senior races are calculated by aggregating the positions of the first three finishers. The top two athletes per country count in the U20 team event. The Irish senior men’s 20km team (Alex Wright, Robert Heffernan and Cian McManamon) won bronze at this event in 2017.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Irish athletes who have achieved consideration standards

European 10,000m Cup, Pacé, FRA, 24 May

Similar to Poděbrady for the Race Walking Team Championships, Pacé in France will host the European 10,000m Cup for the third time, though the last edition was actually held alongside the European Championships in Rome last summer.

There will be A and B races in both men’s and women’s categories, with athletes seeded according to prior accomplishments. The addition of pacemakers allows athletes to avail of a rare opportunity to chase personal bests and championship qualification standards while surrounded by athletes of a similar ability.

A full Irish team competed in the men’s race in Rome last year, while Íde Nic Dhomhnaill and Shona Heaslip finished first and second respectively in the women’s B race in Pacé in 2023.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Irish athletes who have achieved consideration standards

European Team Championships, Maribor, SLO, 24-29 Jun

After a stunning team performance in the lowest division two years ago, Ireland are back where they belong in the second division of Europe’s international team competition. A lack of field event power has historically made it impossible to challenge for a place in the top division but, with growth there, 2025 will give some indication of whether or not further promotion is possible for the current generation.

The target, however, this year must surely be to solidify their place, and for athletes – particularly those in the field events – to gain experience at this level. And if everyone shows up, who knows, maybe we could all be surprised.

Ireland’s opposition in Slovenia will include the hosts Slovenia, Austria and Israel who were promoted with Ireland in 2023, Belgium, Turkey and Norway, who were relegated from the top division last time, along with Romania, Denmark, Serbia, Slovakia, Croatia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Latvia.

Event information
Athletics Ireland selection policy

European U23 Championships, Bergen, NOR, 17-20 Jul

Nicola Tuthill, Nick Griggs, Elizabeth Ndudi and Oisin Joyce are just some of the Irish athletes who’ll be eligible to compete at the 15th edition of the European U23 championships in Norway in July.

Tuthill finished 4th in 2023, and has improved her best by almost two-an-a-half metres, made a European Senior final, and competed in the Olympics since then. Griggs and Ndudi both European U20 champions, and Joyce, a World U20 medallist, will also be looking for medals, should they choose to compete.

Irish athletes have had much success at European U23 Championships in recent years. Sophie O'Sullivan, Sarah Healy, David Kenny, Eilish Flanagan and Nadia Power have all won medals since 2019; of those, only Healy had won won a European medal at U20 level.

Event website

FISU World University Games Summer, Rhine-Ruhr, GER, 21-27 Jul, 2025

It’s not clear yet if Ireland will send a team to the biannual, multi-sport event for students. The athletics programme, which will be held in Lohrheidestadion in Bochum, starts the day after the European U23 championships conclude in Bergen.

European U23 Championships will likely be the priority for those who are eligible for both, but athletes like Nicola Tuthill could easily compete in Norway and Germany. Others, for example Sophie O’Sullivan and Jack Raftery, would be eligible for World Universities but not European U23s.

Ireland didn’t send a team to the last edition in Chengdu. Marcus Lawler won 200m bronze six years ago, while Thomas Barr won the 400m hurdles in 2015. Ronnie Delany (1961), Sonia O’Sullivan (1991) and Derval O’Rourke (2005) are also among previous medal winners.

Event website

European U20 Championships, Tampere, FIN, 7-10 Aug

While senior athletics is very much our focus here, it’s difficult to ignore the main under-20 competition of the year. The European U20 Championships is always a good chance to watch some of the up-and-coming talent. The athletes always look like they’re having fun, and with all events shown live and for free on the Eurovision Sport site, it’s an easy event to follow.

Elizabeth Ndudi (gold LJ) and Nick Griggs (silver 3000m) made the podium in 2023. Indeed, 10 Irish athletes have earned 12 medals at European U20 level since 2017. Of those athletes, Griggs, Kate O’Connor, Sarah Healy, Darragh McElhinney and Rhasidat Adeleke have since gone on to compete in global senior championships, with John Fitzsimons also competing at European Senior level.

Irish athletes won five medals at the European U18 Championships in 2023, and some of the athletes who competed at World U20 Championships last year are still eligible, so there’ll be no shortage of talent this time either.

Event information

World Championships, Tokyo, JPN, 13-21 Sep

While there will be plenty to keep the keen athletics fan entertained all summer, they’ll have to wait until September for the ‘big dance.’

Over nine days, the world’s best athletes will compete in the Japanese capital for 49 World titles. Ireland’s last World Championship medal came in 2013 (Rob Heffernan, Gold, 50km walk), and only five Irish athletes have ever won medals at this level. With four near misses in the last two global majors, surely the Irish are due a bit of luck.

Event website
Athletics Ireland selection policy
Qualification status of Irish athletes

World Road Running Championships, San Diego, USA, 26-28 Sep

While this event may not feature an Irish team, all three Championship events (mile, 5km and half marathon) will be run alongside mass participation events, so anyone can enter.

This will be the first time either the World Half Marathon Championships, or the now-expanded World Road Running Championships, will be hosted by the USA. No Irish athlete has ever won a medal at this event.

Event website

European Cross Country Championships, Lagoa, POR, 14 Dec

After the long trip to Asia for last year’s event, Europe’s premier Cross Country event returns to the Western extremity of mainland Europe, and the Algarve town of Lagoa.

Ireland had a breakthrough performance the last time the event was held in Portugal (Lisbon, 2019), when Efrem Gidey (U20) and Stephanie Cotter (U23) won individual bronze medals and both the U23 and senior women’s teams won silver.

In the four editions since then, Darragh McElhinney (U23 silver, 2021), Nick Griggs (U20 silver, 2022; U20 bronze, 2023; U23 silver 2024) and Dean Casey (U20 bronze, 2023) have added individual medals. The U20 men, U23 men and senior women have also earned six sets of team medals between them.

It’s a long way until December and predicting who’ll be competing and challenging for medals is near impossible, but one thing we can be assured of is a big and vocal travelling group of Irish supporters.

Irish athletics fans are spoilt for opportunities to meet current and future stars of the sport across the country, and throughout the year.

Here we highlight 10 of the top events for spectators, including a mix of indoor, outdoor, cross country and road events.

Irish Senior Indoor Championships, NIA, Dublin, 22-23 February

The National indoor championships are rarely without at least one standout performance or moment of drama. In 2024, the closing stages of the men’s 1500m final, with both Cathal Doyle and Nick Griggs falling over the line, was a battle worthy of any stage.

The 2023 Championships, the year of the last European Indoors, was a particularly exciting one. Israel Olatunde smashed the national 60 metre record. Elizabeth Ndudi won the Long Jump on countback from Ruby Millett. Jack Raftery, in a last-dash effort to make European Indoors, set a new Championship Best Performance in the 400m. Mark Smyth (200m) and Saragh Buggy (Triple Jump) were both just outside the respective national records.

While some athletes, including Rhasidat Adeleki, have said that they’re foregoing the European and World Indoors this season and are therefore likely to skip nationals, there will be no shortage of athletes looking to step into the limelight.

The intensity of the indoor setting, together with the proximity of the action, gives indoor competition a particularly electric atmosphere. The short season means that many will still be chasing qualifying standards, B standards, and ranking points, and with two major championships in the calendar, and places on a couple of relay squads on the line, there’s sure to be more NIA drama in 2025.

Athletics Ireland normally do a two-day ticket at a reduced price, and those under 16 go free, but spectator seating is limited, so you are advised to secure your ticket early. Most of the track finals will be on the second day, but with half the field events and the sprint hurdles finals on the Saturday, there’s sure to be drama right across the weekend.

Belfast Irish Milers Meet, Mary Peter’s Track, Belfast, 10 May

Ten years since the first edition, the season-opening Belfast Irish Milers Meet has seen national records, Olympic and World Championships qualifying times, breakout performances and hundreds of personal bests.

The women’s 800m never disappoints. Louise Shanahan and Ciara Mageean both broke two minutes in 2022, the former in a then Irish record of 1:59.42. Shanahan won again in 2022 in 1:59.53, to date her only other time under two minutes. Great Britain’s Phoebe Gill catapulted herself into the public consciousness when she front-ran 1:57.86 last year. The seventeen-year-old was one of several athletes in action to later compete at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Sophie Becker set the tone for the year ahead when she ran 51.13 seconds for the 400m last May, which, at the time of writing, is still good enough for fifth place on the Irish Alltime list. Cillín Green, Jack Raftery, Callum Baird and Sean Doggett were all well under 47 seconds in last year’s men’s 400m.

The meet is free to attend and in addition to invitational races over 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m and 3000m, has graded middle distance races for national-level athletes. When the weather plays ball, Mary Peters track is one of the most beautiful venues for spectators. Pack the picnic, and prepare yourself for surprises, drama, and maybe even a record or too.

Irish Schools Championships, Tullamore, 30-31 May

While the focus of TrackAthletes is on senior athletes, it would be remiss of us not to mention the greatest annual gathering of rising stars. The top juveniles rarely miss this one, and with limited age-groups, it’s an opportunity to see head-to-heads that don’t happen at other juvenile events.

The Irish Schools Championships is always slickly run, and while a small number of the events now take place on the Friday evening, the Saturday is non-stop action, with straight finals throughout.

Cork City Sports, MTU Track, Cork, 9 July

With National Seniors a bit later this year, the Cork City Sports is the first of the big trio of senior domestic events. The intimate venue makes for a lovely evening out, and the athletics action rarely disappoints, with Ireland’s top athletes, especially those from Cork, battling it out against some top athletes from Britain, the USA and further afield.

Last year saw wins for Sarah Lavin (100m Hurdles) and Reece Ademola (Long Jump), with Cathal Doyle second in a very competitive mile, Nick Griggs third behind a pair of Americans in the 3000m, and Nicola Tuthill third in the Hammer Throw, just missing the 70m mark.

The 2025 programme, like last year, will include 100m, 200m, 800m and 3000m races for both men and women, as well a women’s 100m hurdles and the men’s mile, which traditionally concludes the programme. On the field, the women will compete in the Hammer Throw and the High Jump, while there will be Long Jump and Shot Put competitions for the men. Junior and national events will bolster what is typically a strong international meeting.

Morton Games, Morton Stadium, Dublin, 11 July

Just two days after the Cork City Sports, the World Continental tour will head to Morton Stadium in Santry, for the Morton Games.

The Morton Mile, which concludes the programme, is one of the highlights, not just of the meeting, but of the annual domestic calendar. After a drought of 18 years, there have been Irish winners in two of the last three editions. Andrew Coscoran ’s dive just got the better of Cathal Doyle in 2022, the pair leading five Irish athletes under four minutes on that occasion. Doyle finally got his name on the trophy with a dominant display in 2024.

In addition to the Mile, the 2025 edition will have international races over 100m, 400m, 800m and 5000m and a Shot Put competition for the men. The women will compete in 400m, 800m, 1500m, 100m hurdles, High Jump and Discus.

National Senior Championships, Morton Stadium, Dublin, 2-3 August

This is the first fixture placed in any serious Irish athletics fan’s diary. Not only is it a great weekend of athletics, but it’s the best opportunity in the year to catch up with old competitors and friends from the world of athletics.

The 2024 Championships was one of the best attended in recent years, with children from across the country, along with their responsible adults, flocking to Morton Stadium to witness Ireland’s rising stars in action, and grab an autograph or two form current and past stars of the sport.

The highlight of the 2024 edition was, no doubt, Rashidat Adeleke breaking the Irish 100m record. Other stars from the European Championships in Rome, including Nicola Tuthill, Sophie Becker, and Phil Healy also competed. While Thomas Barr’s attempt to qualify for the 400m hurdles in Paris ultimately ended in heartbreak, Cathal Doyle (1500m) and Oisin Joyce (Javelin) demonstrated why they were athletes to look out for later in the summer. Jodie McCann did enough in her front-running 5000m victory to secure a place for Paris, while Jack Raftery’s surprise victory in the 400m sealed his place on the mixed relay.

In addition to the numerous stars on display, the national championships always has some spectacular head-to-heads, particularly in the middle distance events. Who can forget the epic 1500m battle in 2020 between Paul Robinson and Sean Tobin, or the one between Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan in 2023, just weeks after they finished second and first at the European U23 Championships.

The international element means that the Cork City Sports and Morton Games are a slightly higher standard across the board, but if you want to see what a national title means to Irish athletes, then get yourself to Morton Stadium for the best weekend of athletics on the island!

Autumn Open Cross Country, Abbotstown, Dublin, 19 October

This World Cross Country Tour meeting comes very early in the season, but that makes it all the more exciting. The dry ground and shorter distances hand a slight advantage to the track athletes, and it’s always interesting to see how athletes are fairing after the end of season break.

The inclusion of U20 athletes, who race a lap fewer than the seniors, the trials for the Masters Cross Country International, and a sprinkling of international runners, add extra spice to the event.

The main Men’s and Women’s races are preceded by the National Mixed Cross Country Relay Championships, which serves as the trial race for the European Clubs Cross Country Championships, and the national juvenile relays.

Mid-October sees the purpose-built Abbottstown course at its autumnal best, and the action-packed programme makes this a great afternoon out for all the family.

Dublin Marathon, Dublin, 26 October

The streets of Dublin come alive on the final Sunday of October, as the city’s population pours out onto the streets in support of those taking on the 26.2 miles for a variety of reasons.

While not known for fast times, those who made the effort last year will have witnessed Hiko Tonaso Haso break the Irish record, and AnnMarie McGlynn complete the first stage of a historic autumn double as she took the Irish Women’s title and added the Irish Cross Country title to her resume just three weeks later.

The atmosphere in the city centre, as hundreds of spectators line the final mile of the course, is definitely worth experiencing, but there are lots of other great points along the course to get a glimpse of international stars, loved ones, and friends, and maybe to run into a fellow spectator or two that you know.

Who knows, you may even be inspired to take on the distance yourself next year!

National Senior Cross Country Championships, Derry, 23 November

Castle Irving in Fermanagh provided a beautiful backdrop for last year’s well-attended and well-organised Championships, which provided its fair share of surprises.

The event incorporates not just the National U20, U23 and Senior Individual Championships, but also the National inter-club and inter-county team competition and the European Cross Country trials. The All-Ireland Even Age Juvenile Championships also form part of the programme.

An action-packed day is guaranteed, filled with ecstasy and heartbreak, and that’s just those at the back of the field. Kileen Kilreehill’s win in the Senior men’s race in 2024 showed just what winning a national title means to an athlete, while AnnMarie’s utter shock at taking the women’s title reminded onlookers how wonderfully unpredictable this sport is.

There have been nine different winners of the Senior men’s title in the past nine editions, while seven different athletes have won the Senior women’s title since 2017. As the event heads to Derry, be sure you go too, and see who adds their name to the role of honour. Just don’t forget to pack your wellies.

National Senior 35km Walks Championship, Raheny, 14 December

In addition to being a national championship event, this meeting has World Racewalking Tour Bronze status, and in 2024 many top international walkers flocked to Dublin to record a time over what is currently the longest walk on the international programme.

As a national championships event, it also carries valuable performance points for Irish athletes looking to secure qualification for international competitions in 2026.

St Anne’s Park is a beautiful place for a Sunday morning stroll, so why not pop along and see how Ireland’s fastest walkers take it on.

Other events worth a watch include the various IUAA Intervarsity championships (indoors in February, Track and Field in April, and Cross Country and Road Relays championships in the autumn), the All-Ireland School’s Cross Country Championships (early March), the National U20 and U23 Track and Field Championships (early July), and the National Track and Field League Final in July.

For a full list of senior competitions in Ireland, search the Fixtures Calendar using the ‘country’ filter.

The 38th European Indoor Athletics Championships will be held in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn between 6 and 9 March 2025. After missing out on medals in 2021 (Phil Healy finished fourth in the 400m) and 2023 (Darragh McElhinney was fourth in the 3000m), Irish athletes will be hoping for some silverware.

But first, they must qualify. At the time of writing, two relay teams (Women’s 4x400m and Mixed 4x400m) and six individuals have achieved the required entry standards, though some of the latter do not have Apeldoorn in their plans for 2025.

Athletes have until 23rd February, the weekend of the National Senior Indoor Championships, to achieve the entry standard set by European Athletics, or to gain enough ranking points to be within the required quota AND achieve the Athletics Ireland B standard.

Current status of Irish Athletes on Road to Apeldoorn

The mixed relay is making its indoor debut this year, and the Irish have qualified for both that and the women’s relay by virtue of their position on the World top list at the end of 2024. The Men’s 4x400m has the opportunity to join them, but the Irish men will need some swift individual performances by the 23rd February cut-off.

Netherlands, Great Britain, Belgium and France have already secured their place and the remaining two spots will be allocated based on the best cumulative times of a nation’s four fastest athletes during the 2025 indoor season.

Sarah Healy, Sophie O’Sullivan (both 1500m), Brian Fay (3000m) and Sarah Lavin (100m hurdles) ran fast enough outdoors last season to qualify, and, should they choose to compete, will be looking for top eight finishes (or higher).

Rhasidat Adeleke has already said that she will skip both European and World indoors this season, and Ciara Mageean, who has achieved the qualification standard for both the 800m and 1500m is recovering from recent surgery on the injury that kept her out of Paris.

Kate O’Connor (Pentathlon) is the only athlete in quota who currently has the Athletics Ireland B standard. Others within the quota cut-off at the start of the season are Israel Olatunde (60m), Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker (both 400m), Mark English (800m), Cathal Doyle, Andrew Coscoran (both 1500m) and Jodie McCann (3000m).

Luke McCann (1500m) is also ranked within quota though he has announced that he won’t be competing in 2025 due to injury.

The complexity of ranking points

Approximately half the quota spots in each event will be allocated based on World Rankings. World rankings are based on outdoor performances, even when used for qualification for indoor events, and while two (or one for 3000m) indoor or associated-distance performances can count, athletes need at least some outdoor results to have a ranking.

Nick Griggs is currently a few spots outside the quota for 1500m, and just missed the outdoor standard for the 3000m. He’ll hope to qualify for at least one event, though if he’s to do it in the longer distance, he’ll need to hit the 7:43.00 Auto Q or find an outdoor 5000m race (or an indoor 5000m on a 400m track) to qualify by ranking.

Track athletes who missed last year’s outdoor season therefore only have the Auto Q route to qualification. Same too for 400m hurdlers looking to race 400m indoors. Field eventers can qualify by virtue of their five best-scoring performance, irrespective of how many of these were achieved indoors.

Because Auto Qs can be achieved outdoors, athletes who never race indoors, are currently injured, or retired post-Paris, may well be sitting within quota spots – by qualification or ranking – at the end of the qualification period. Irish athletes interested in competing in Apeldoorn will be hoping to benefit from subsequent withdrawals by such athletes.

But first, they need to hit the Athletics Ireland B standards. And while there’s still much to play for, particularly in terms of Auto Qs, much of the heavy lifting is already done in terms of gathering world ranking points.

We’ll keep you informed of when Irish athletes hit Auto Q standards and Athletics Ireland B standards, and bring you regular ranking updates after the Road to Apeldoorn is updated each week on our European Indoors information page.

Some other useful information

The Irish team will be announced after final selections have been made on 25th February.

If you’re looking to support the Irish athletes in person, you’re probably too late. Tickets for all the evening sessions sold out early, though there are limited moving morning session available for Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 March.

We’ll publish all the information you need to follow the event – including an Irish-specific timetable, links to startlists and live results, and details of where to watch the event – closer to the time.

Irish athletes will be aiming for their first European Indoor medal in six years, and we don’t want you to miss any of the action.