Sean Doggett

While the World Indoor Championships are still a week away, there’s plenty at stake for Irish athletes over the coming days, with the European Throwing Cup taking place in Cyprus and the NCAA Indoor Championships in the USA.

While last year's medal bonanza will be difficult to repeat in Nicosia, there is still plenty for the Irish throwers to play for, and while NCAA medals are also difficult to come by, three Irish athletes carry record-breaking form into the weekend's decider.

Meanwhile, six recently crowned National Senior Indoor Champions will be among those looking to add National U20 and U23 titles to their collections.

European Throwing Cup

The 2025 trip to Nicosia was a memorable one for Irish throwers, with three athletes making the podium. Nicola Tuthill earned her third consecutive medal in the U23 Hammer, upgrading from silver in 2023 and 2024 to win gold. Anna Gavigan threw a then PB of 53.91m to win silver in the U23 Discus, while 2024 World U20 medallist Oisin Joyce won bronze in the U23 Javelin.

Gavigan will compete again in the U23 Discus, and will look to at least match her performance from last year.

Tuthill went on to win silver at both the European U23 Championships and the World University Games before making the World Championship in Tokyo last year. She will seek to be competitive among Europe’s best senior hammer throwers here, in preparation for the European Championships in Birmingham this summer.

Niamh Fogarty broke the forty-year-old national discus record when she threw 58.40, in Oklahoma last April, and will look to improve on her 15th place from last year. Eric Favors, like Fogarty, is a regular on the Irish team for this event, and will be hoping for a big throw to set his outdoor campaign alight.

Conor Cusack made big strides in the Javelin last summer, ending the season with a PB of 75.42m. He will hope to carry that momentum into 2026, when he takes part in the senior Javelin competition for the first time.

Tuthill has already secured the qualification standard for the European Championships in Birmingham later this summer. Favors has surpassed the Athletics Ireland B standard, and is sitting well within the quota spots on ranking; indeed, his best is just 5cm short of the automatic qualification standard.

The respective Athletics Ireland B standards and the collection of ranking points will be at the forefront of Fogarty and Cussack’s minds in the coming months. Fogarty’s national record is better than the Athletics Ireland B standard of 57.80m, the minimum she would need to make her first major championships.

Cussack would need to improve to at least 79.00m to have any chance of making the cut-off for Birmingham, but given his improvement in the past 12 months, that is looking ever more possible.

NCAA battles

The startlists for the NCAA Division I Championships in Arkansas (Fayetteville) on Friday and Saturday will include five Irish athletes, including two who have also been selected for the World Indoor Championships next weekend.

Lauren Roy, who has been in scintillating form this season, will compete in the 60m and 200m. Roy has improved to 7.19 over 60m – the distance she will contest in Torun – this season and her 22.89 over 200m places her 2nd on the Irish all-time list, indoors and overall, behind Rhasidat Adeleke.

Maeve O’Neill has been another surprise package in early 2026, breaking the Irish Indoor 800m record last month and earning herself a spot at the World Indoors. She has improved her outright PB by 2.33 seconds this year and is ranked sixth on times this season heading into the weekend decider.

Elizabeth Ndudi is another to have set an Irish record this indoor season, when she added 1cm to Kelly Proper's 2010 mark. Ndudi is ranked fourth on 2026 performances, but with little to choose between the 16 contestants, this one could go down to the wire.

Abdel Laadjel had a fabulous run to finish top 10 at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in November, and he will be in the mix when the 5000m title is contested on Friday.

Seán Donoghue, a regular on successful Villanova middle-distance relay teams, is among the names listed for their Distance Medley Relay team this weekend.

The NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III championships will also be contested this weekend. Louis O’Loughlin (Mile), Ava O’Connor (Mile, 3000m) and Claragh Keane (5000m) will compete at the Division II event in Virginia Beach, VA, while Lucas Fadden (60m, 200m) is among the qualifiers for the Division III event in Birmingham, AL.

The NAIA Championships – the other division of collegiate competition in the US - took place last weekend. Nathan Cremin won gold in the 1000m (2:22.26) while Heather Murphy won silver in the 5000m (16:24.40).

U20 and U23 athletes compete for national titles

National senior champions Sean Doggett, Michael Kent, Adam Nolan, Emmanuel Osas, Meabh Corkery and Kotryna Pacerinskaite will be among those competing for age-group medals in Athlone on Saturday.

Doggett, who is the fastest Irish man over 400m in 2026 will race over 200m (U23), while Kent, the national Pole Vault champion, will compete in the U20 Long Jump. Osas will again contest the High Jump and Nolan the 60m Hurdles, both at U23 level, while Coakery will look to continue her steady improvement in the U20 Pole Vault. Pacerinskaite, the national Weight for Distance champion, is entered for both that and the Shot Put this weekend.

The U20 women’s middle-distance races look stacked with talent, and are likely to be closely-contested affairs, but there is a strong entry right across the programme, and an exciting day of action is guaranteed. See the Athletics Ireland website for a full preview.

Lynch on the roads of New York

Former Irish marathon record holder Peter Lynch will continue his preparations for next month’s London Marathon when he takes to the NYC Half startline on Sunday. This will be Lynch’s first serious test since finishing 24th at the World Championships in September.

Even with a potential six spots available, it’s likely that the competition for the Irish places in the men’s marathon in Birmingham will be hotly contested.

Fearghal Curtin and Paul O’Donnell have already secured the Automatic Qualification standard, and Ryan Creech, who just missed that standard in Seville last month, is comfortably within the quota spaces. Lynch, National Champion David McGlynn, Barry Keane and Hiko Tonosa, also have the Athletics Ireland B standard, the minimum needed for selection.

World Indoor Tour Gold meetings in Madrid and Karlsruhe,  the European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country, round two of the national league with big guest fields, and a splattering of college meets across the US, are just some of the events with Irish interest taking place over the coming days.

Startlists suggest the return of an Olympian who hasn’t raced since 2024, a senior international up against an Olympic and World Champion, big opportunities for some young athletes, and potential domestic sprint clashes.

World Indoor Tour meetings

Irish athletes have competed at all three World Indoor Tour Gold meetings run so far this year, and with Sarah Lavin on the startlist for both Madrid (Friday) and Karlsruhe (Sunday), that streak is set to continue.

Lavin opened her season in Paris two weeks ago, where she ran 7.98 to secure World Indoor qualification. She wasn’t able to replicate that form in Ostrava on Wednesday. where she failed to advance to the final, but she’ll be looking to bounce back this weekend.

Luke McCann hasn’t raced since 9th September 2024, a few weeks after he became an Olympian. However, he looks set to make his competitive return from injury over 1500m in Dortmund (World Indoor Tour Bronze) on Sunday. He’s also entered for an 800m in Germany next Friday.

Sean Doggett will race over 400m at the World Indoor Tour Challenger meeting in Kaunas on Saturday.

European Champion Clubs Cup Cross Country

The top cross country clubs from across Europe will decend on Albuferia, Portugal on Sunday for the battle to be the best team in Europe. There will be full Irish representation across all races, with teams having qualified by finishing top two at the national championships late last year.

While teams aren’t as strong as they could be, there are a few notable names, including Michelle Finn for Leevale in the senior women’s race. The in-form Lucy Holmes, Niamh Carr and Phillip Marron join Paul Delahunty on the Dublin City Harriers mixed relay team.

Domestic and UK action

Round 2 of the national league will take place in Athlone on Sunday. Among those entered to compete are Molly Scott (60m, 60m Hurdles), Ciara Neville, Orla Comerford, Sarah Leahy (60m), Marcus Lawler (60m, 200m), Sophie Becker (200m), Adam Nolan (60m Hurdles), Michaela Walsh (Shot Put) and Aoife O'Sullivan (High Jump), among others. Not all will show, but good battles, particularly in the sprint events

Max O'Reilly (60m) and Michael Farrelly (60m) are among the entries for the Welsh Open Senior Championships across the weekend.

The Ulster and Northern Ireland Cross Championships take place at the Necarne Estate in Irvingstown on Saturday. Meanwhile, an Ireland and Northern Ireland underage teams will travel to London for the London Cross Challenge at Parliament Hill which incorporates the Home Countries International and the Celitic International.

Action in the US

Call it the calm before the storm, or the breathing space we all needed, but this is a much quieter weekend on the collegiate and professional racing front in the US. That said, it is not without a few interesting clashes.

James Gormley is on the startlist for 1000m at the Doc Hale Invitational on Saturday, a race which is set to include Olympic and World Champion Cole Hocker, and Sean Donoghue is due to race the same distance at the Penn Classic in Philadelphia, also on Saturday.

Sean Aigboboh, Heather Murphy and Victoria Amiadamen are among those entered to compete at the various meetings taking place. See our Calendar and/or NCAA pages for more details.

The coming week

Midweek action includes the fifth NIA live of the season and the Belgrade World Indoor Tour Gold meeting on Wednesday and the Armagh International Road Races on Thursday.

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.