Rachel McCann

While the World Championships are not until September, May will be a busy month for athletics, with Championships, Diamond Leagues, Continental Tour Gold meetings, Grand Slam Track Miami, domestic events and other key meetings taking place.

Many athletes will be looking to improve their Road to Tokyo score, or even complete enough events to have a ranking. Some will be looking to get that all-important Auto Q out of the way. Some athletes will be on the hunt for medals. Others will simply be looking for a solid start to the season. Here are some of the events to look out for.

World Relays

The World Relays is an important event in its own right, as well as a crucial event for major championship qualification. Ireland will compete in the Women’s 4x400m relay, the Men’s 4x400m relay and the Mixed 4x400m relay. The top 14 teams at World Relays, along with the next two fastest teams during the qualification window, will qualify for Tokyo.

Qualification, at least for the women’s 4x400m, should be a formality, but the teams selected suggest that they’re not leaving anything to chance. In the absence of Dutch mixed and women’s teams (they will get one of the non-automatic spots), one of the Irish teams will be hoping to add more silverware. The timetable doesn’t allow for athletes to double up in the finals.

Other Championships

The racewalkers and 10,000m runners will also have the opportunity to wear the green and improve their chances of making the startline in Tokyo. The European Race Walking Team Championships will be held in Poděbrady (Czechia) on 18 May, while the European 10,000m Cup will be held in Pacé (France) on 25 May.

The Diamond League

The 2025 Diamond League season got underway on 26 April, and there will be three more fixtures over the coming month: Shanghai/Kegiao on 3 May, Doha on 16 May, and Rabat on 25 May. Rhasidat Adeleke is on the entry list for the 200m in Shanghai. Startlists for the other two fixtures have not yet been released, but may well also feature Irish athletes.

Continental Tour Gold meetings

There will be Continental Tour Gold meetings in Tokyo (18), Zagreb (22-24), Bydgoszcz (30) and Nairobi (31). We won’t know if there are Irish athletes on the startlists until a day or two before, but all four meetings will feature some of the world’s top athletes.

Grand Slam Track

Andrew Coscoran has been announced as a challenger in the Men’s long distance category in Miami from 2-4 May. He will race over the 3000m and 5000m for Grand Slam Track prizemoney.

Domestic meetings

The domestic season kicks off on 3 May with an Irish Milers Club meeting in Clonmel, which will be held in conjunction with the Dr Pat Callaghan Hammer and Shot Putt Gala, and the first of eight Dublin Graded meets in Morton Stadium.

The Belfast Milers meeting on 10 May promises to be another special event. The 400m athletes shone in Belfast last year, and while those athletes will be competing at World Relays that weekend this time around, there will be plenty of opportunity for other athletes to show how much they’ve improved this winter. Among those already announced for the meeting is two-time Canadian Olympian Gabriela Debues-Stafford.

IFAM Brussels, BMC Bury and other Continental Tour meetings

IFAM is always a massive weekend for Irish athletes, and this year should be no different with approximately 150 Irish athletes entered for the meeting on 24 and 25 May. Among those listed are 2024 Paris Olympians Jodie McCann, Rachel McCann and Lauren Cadden, but many others will be vying for PBs and qualification standards in the Belgium capital. IFAM is a Continental Tour Bronze meeting so those who finish top in each event will also pick up some world ranking points.

The British Milers Club meeting in Bury (Cat D) is likely to feature a number of Irish athletes. It was at the opening BMC fixture last year that Ciara Mageean broke the Irish 800m record, just weeks before winning the European 1500m title.

There are a sprinkling of other continental tour silver, bronze and challenger events across Europe during the month,

NCAA fixtures

There are a small number of regular-season fixtures remaining before US-college-based athletes compete at Conference championships. Those who are ranked high enough in their region (East; West) will then compete in the NCAA preliminary round. By the end of the month we’ll know which athletes have made it through to the National finals in Eugene in early June.

May highlights
2-4 May: Grand Slam Track Miami (TNT; subscription required)
3 May: Irish Milers Club, TUS Clonmel; free for spectators
3 May: Dublin Graded 1, Morton Stadium; free for spectators
3 May: Shanghai Diamond League, live on Virgin Media
10-11 May: World Relays, live on World Athletics/Eurovision Sport
10 May: Belfast Irish Milers, Mary Peters Track; free for spectators
16 May: Doha Diamond League, live on Virgin Media
18 May: European Racewalking Cup, live on European Athletics
23 May: European 10,000m Cup, live on European Athletics
24-25 May: IFAM Brussels, livestream available
25 May: Rabat Diamond League, live on Virgin Media
28-31 May: NCAA Division I Qualifiers East and West; follow along via live results

It's been an epic six weeks tracking the route Irish athletes took to Apeldoorn. Some came into 2025 with the Auto Q already secured and many hit it in their first competition of the year. Others had plenty of ranking points, but needed the Athletics Ireland B standard to be selected. 

A few hung out around the quota cut-off for the past few weeks, knowing (or at least hoping) that there would be some withdrawals. And here we are with a team of 19. This is a summary of how each individual and team qualified for Apeldoorn.

Bori Akinola (60m) was sitting in or around the cut-off mark coming into the season, and once he nailed the Athletics Ireland B standard (6.65) at the National League on 19 Jan he was all but assured his place, given the number of athletes ahead of him on the Road to Apeldoorn who were unlikely to compete. Akinola’s silver medal at last summer’s National Seniors made up a big chunk of his final ranking score, along with his win from National Indoors and that 6.65 from the national league. Two rounds of the UCD Track and Field Meeting in June were enough to complete Akinola’s Apeldoorn-qualifying score.

Sharlene Mawdsley (400m): While her place by ranking was never in doubt coming into the season, Masdsley made things straightforward when she achieved the Auto Q in her first race of the season in Glasgow on 2 Feb. Her 51.69 that day was an indoor personal best, and her fastest time of the season so far.

Lauren Cadden and Rachel McCann (both 400m) were selected for relay teams in Apeldoorn and therefore did not need to hit the Athletics Ireland B standard. They took the final two slots on the Road to Apeldoorn (Cliodhna Manning and Arlene Crossan were next in line for a place). Like Akinola, both Cadden and Manning benefited from the podium finishes at last summer’s National Senior Championships and the placing points that it, as a Category B event, carried. But most importantly, they had enough outdoor performances (at least 3) to have a ranking score. Both will be making their senior individual debut in Apeldoorn.

Mark English (800m), a regular in high-scoring races, rarely struggles to gather ranking points. He was already sitting pretty on 1240 points when he ran the Auto Q (and smashed the Irish record in the process), at the Millrose Games on 8 February. English, a two-time medal-winner at this event, goes into Apeldoorn ranked third of the field on season’s best.

Cian McPhillips (800m) looked to have a mountain to climb when sitting in 48th place. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, he ran 1:45.33 – an outright PB, second on the Irish all-time list, and most importantly the Auto Q for Apeldoorn. McPhillips is ranked fifth by season’s best among the field.

Cathal Doyle (1500m) seems to love just missing Auto Qs, and the Road to Apeldoorn has been no different; the 3:37.00 standard just alluding him on this occasion. He did, however, achieve the B standard on 7 Feb and thanks to three Category A top 4 finishes, a swift Olympic semi-final result, and another fast category C podium finish, Doyle amassed a massive ranking score of 1289 points. That’s almost 200 points more than was needed to make it on quota.

Sarah Healy (3000m): Because she had raced no 5000m races outdoors last season, Sarah always needed the Automatic qualification standard of 8:48.00. She achieved that in Boston in her first race of the season where she broke the Irish record, and improved it a week later in New York. Her time then - 8:30.79 – ranks her second by time among the Apeldoorn field. Sarah did also achieve the Auto Q for the 1500m, but has opted for the longer distance in Apeldoorn.

Jodie McCann (5000m): Having chased ranking points for the 5000m in Paris last summer, Jodie had a good chance of making Apeldoorn on ranking, so long as she achieved the Athletics Ireland B standard. She achieved that on 4 Feb, and while sitting in the last of the 24 slots the week before the window closed, she was well within the quota once withdrawals were made. McCann’s final ranking was made up of the same three performances that got her to the Olympics.

Andrew Coscoran (3000m), like Healy, needed the Auto Q, and that he delivered in his first outing of the season, with an impressive win and national record-shattering 7:30.75 in Boston. The following week Coscoran broke the Irish 1500m and mile records, but, like Healy, has chosen the longer distance in Apeldoorn. He is ranked third in the field on time.

James Gormley (3000m): A former British junior international, the first step for James was to gain his Irish eligibility, which happened in November last year. James hit the Auto Q in Boston on 14th February to secure his place.

Sarah Lavin (60m hurdles): has been making a habit of getting qualification out of the way early, and she achieved the required standard (8.00 seconds) at the World Indoors in Glasgow last March, within the first week of qualification for this event.

Kate O’Connor (Hepathlon) surpassed the Athletics Ireland B standard for Apeldoorn with her best heptathlon performance last summer, and she came into the indoor season sitting just inside the quota spots. Her 4683 national record on 2 February, however, bettered the Auto Q.  She is one of only three of the field to do so this season.

The Mixed 4x400m and Women's 4x400m relay teams both qualified by time, thanks to their Rome and Paris performances respectively. Netherlands, as hosts, were guaranteed a slot in each relay, the next three teams were decided based on 2024 toplist, and the final two slots in the 6-team finals were allocated based on cumulative times of a country’s best 4 performers this indoor season.

Orla Comerford (PA 60m) will also compete in Apeldoorn, European Athletics having added two Para Athletics events to the programme.