Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy will be the first Irish athletes in action this morning in the first round of the 1500m at the European Athletics Championships in Rome. They start at 10:45 Irish Time. Both are coming into these championships fresh off a 1-2 in Ostrava last week, having both posted 800m PBs just a few days before.
Both athletes will very much have eyes on Sunday’s final, with the two Irish athletes ranked inside the top six on their season’s best.
Mageean and Healy are also two of only five athletes entered ever to break the four-minute mark over 1500m, with none having bettered Mageean’s 3:55.87 set in September last year.
Mark English returns to yet another European Championships on Friday morning and his recent performance at the Diamond League Meet in Olso suggests that he has timed his return to peak fitness perfectly once again.
A competitive looking men’s 800m will mean another season’s best will be required to make the final, but few would bet against the seasoned championship performer should he make it through the rounds.
Two-time Olympian Michelle Finn takes on the first round of the women’s 3000m steeplechase from 12.05 today, with the Leevale athlete ready to kickstart her 2024 outdoor season.
The evening session on Friday will see the return of Eric Favors in the Shot Put qualifying. Favors enjoyed another record-breaking outdoor season last year and will hope to have recovered sufficiently from an injury setback over the winter months as he looks to bring his best to Rome following a training block in Germany in recent weeks.
Israel Olatunde will look to channel memories of that famous record-breaking night at these championships in 2022 when he takes to the blocks on Friday evening. Olatunde, who is also selected in the men’s 4x100m relay team, will take his place in the heats of the individual 100m from 8.10pm.
Ireland’s penultimate involvement on Friday will be an exciting one, with the mixed 4x400m relay team taking their place in the final alongside Belgium, Czech Republic, France, GB&NI, Netherlands, Poland, and hosts Italy. This will take place at 21:20 and be shown live on RTÉ2.
Rounding out day 1 for Team Ireland will be Jodie McCann in the women’s 5000m final. McCann has been in flying form in Australia this season and will very much have sights on breaking into the top-12. The race looks stacked with several sub-15-minute athletes entered including home favourite Nadia Battocletti.
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