A strong Irish team of 16 athletes has been selected for the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow on March 1-3.
The team will be led by a strong quartet in Phil Healy (Bandon), Ciara Mageean (UCD), Mark English (UCD), and Thomas Barr (Ferrybank). There is also a strong blend of youth and championship debuts.
Phil Healy is ranked 4th in the women’s 400m with Mageean and English (1500m and 800m) both ranked 5th on the European Indoor lists.
Mark English is a European indoor silver medallist in Prague in 2015 and has been in excellent form winning his 6th national indoor title yesterday.
Senior Debut’s
There are senior debuts on the women’s side for Molly Scott (SLOT) and Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn) in the 60m, Sophie Becker (St Joseph’s) in the 400m and Sommer Lecky (Finn Valley) in the high jump.
It’s a good step up for the U20 athletes with three members of the women’s world 4x100m silver medal-winning team running in the 60m with Ciara Neville (Emerald) also an individual qualifier. Also stepping up is world U20 high jump silver medallist Sommer Lecky.
On the men’s side Cillin Greene (Galway City Harriers) in the 400m, Sean Tobin (Clonmel) in the 3,000m, Joseph Ojewumi (Tallaght) in the 60m, Conall Kirk (Annadale Striders) in the 800m make track debuts.
Athletics Ireland High Performance Director Paul McNamara said “This is a strong Irish team that is primed to put in a performance at this championship. Our more high profile athletes have had stellar seasons to date with Ciara, Phil, Mark, Siofra and Thomas very well placed on the European ranking lists.
“This event will provide an excellent transitioning opportunity for our talented crop of 2018 U20s such as Molly, Ciara, Lauren and Sommer while emerging athletes like Joseph Ojewumi, Cillin Greene and Sophie Becker have shown exciting form this season to earn their spots. This will be a good championships for Irish athletics.”
For more details go to www.athleticsireland.ie
