Abbotstown awaits: National Senior Championships takes centre stage this weekend
Elizabeth Egan | Feb 26, 2026
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.