Paul Costelloe

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.

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.

Another weekend; another Diamond League start. But that's far from all we've got to look forward to over the coming days. Irish Athletes will be competing in Switzerland, Germany, Finland, Estonia, Portugal, UK and Belgium on Saturday, before moving on (some of them physically) to the UK, Poland and France on Sunday.

Diamond League

The biggest meeting of the weekend will take place in Paris on Friday night, as Sarah Healy (1500m) and Mark English (800m) take on some of the World’s best athletes in the middle Diamond League meeting of the year.

Healy, fresh from her first Diamond League win in Rome, will likely be looking to revise her 3:57.46 PB, and may even be looking to give the national record (3:55.87) a scare.

English has had a strong start to the season, having already broken the Irish record twice and dipping under 1:44 for the first time. He’ll be looking to be more competitive among the world class field than he was in Oslo last week.

The Paris Diamond League will be shown live on Virgin Media Three from 8-10pm (Irish time). The men’s 800m will start at 8.15pm, while the women’s 1500m will close out the programme at 9.50pm.

Saturday’s Tour of Europe

A number of Irish athletes will be competing at Continental Tour Bronze meetings around Europe on Saturday as they seek qualification standards and world ranking points.

Nine sprinters and both sprint relays will compete at Athleticageneve EAP in Switzerland. The in-form Bori Akinola and Irish record holder Israel Olatunde will combine forces in the men’s 4x100m relay before doing battle in the 100m (though they are unlikely to be in the same heat).

Sean Aigboboh (100m), Michael Farrelly (100m) and Marcus Lawler (100m, 200m) complete the men’s squad.

The women’s team is made up of Ciara Neville, Sarah Leahy, Aisling Kelly and Sive O’Toole who will all race the 100m.

Sarah Lavin (100m Hurdles) and Roisin Flanagan (3000m) are both entered for Motonet GP Kourtane in Finland.

Lavin will be looking for a confidence-boosting run ahead of next weekend’s European Team Championships while Roisin Flanagan will be hoping that a fast race will improve her Road to Tokyo standings.

Callum Baird (400m) and James Gormley (1500m) are both on the startlist for the Anhalt Meeting in Dessau, Germany, while Oisin Lynch (800m) will compete at the Heino Lipp Memorial in Jöhvi, Estonia.

Robert Hewison, Alex O'Neill (800m), Lughaidh Mallon, Thomas Moran, Cara Laverty (1500m), Seán Tobin, Efrem Gidey and Danielle Donegan (3000m) are among a large Irish entry for the British Milers Club meeting at Loughborough. This is a Continental Tour Challenger (Category D) meeting.

Seán Donoghue (1500m), Rosie Roberts (5000m) and Mark Hanrahan (3000m steeplechase) are entered for the Gold Gala Fernanda Ribeiro (Continental Tour Challenger) meeting in Maia, Portugal.

Saragh Buggy will be taking part in the Triple Jump at the Ciney Golden Series, a category F meeting, in Belgium.

Sunday, Fun Day

Sophie Becker (400m) and Shane Bracken (1500m) will be looking for ranking points and race sharpness ahead of the European Team Championships when they take to the startline at the Meeting International d'Athlétisme de Troyes Aube (Continental Tour Bronze) meeting in France.

Jodie McCann will race the 1500m at the Konopacka Warsaw Classic, a women's-only Continental Tour Bronze event, in Poland

Bori Akinola will be among those making a B-line from Geneva to Stratford on Saturday night to take part in Sunday’s Stratford Speed Track Open (Category F).

Max O'Reilly, Paul Costelloe, Molly Scott, Orla Comerford, Precious Akpe-Moses, Aisling Kelly, Sive O'Toole, Joe Doody and Arabella Adekoya are among a large Irish entry for the event.

Please note that we are still awaiting startlists for a small number of meetings, and will update this article, if relevant, as soon as they become available.