For the first time in quite a while, Irish athletics feels like it is building genuine momentum again.
Not just because Ireland is producing some standout athletes, but because there now appears to be real depth emerging across multiple disciplines, age groups, and events. Irish athletes are now regularly competing at a world-class level in International events, Diamond League meetings and major global championships, delivering top-notch performances and increasingly looking like they belong there.
And perhaps most interestingly of all, much of this momentum is being driven by female athletes.
Ireland has experienced strong athletics eras before, of course. During the 1970s and 1980s, athletics occupied a far more prominent place in Irish and British sporting culture than it does today. Athletes such as Eamonn Coghlan, John Treacy, Marcus O’Sullivan and others became household names, while athletics itself enjoyed a level of mainstream attention that is difficult to imagine now. However these same household names were all male, and all endurance-based athletes.
Later came Sonia O’Sullivan, who many today would say was Ireland’s greatest ever athlete, whose achievements kept Ireland relevant at the highest levels of international athletics throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. But while Ireland continued to produce talented athletes during that period, athletics gradually drifted somewhat from mainstream visibility. It increasingly felt like Ireland would occasionally produce an exceptional individual athlete, rather than sustain genuine depth across the sport.
This current period feels different.
Rhasidat Adeleke’s emergence may have accelerated public attention, but she is far from alone. Kate O’Connor, Ciara Mageean, Sarah Healy, Cian McPhillips, Mark English, Sharlene Mawdsley, Sarah Lavin and many others are just some of the athletes now competing at standards that would have been almost unimaginable in Ireland not so long ago.
What is perhaps most striking is that Ireland is no longer relying on isolated performances from male endurance athletes alone. There is now growing evidence of a broader ecosystem developing beneath the elite level, with stronger youth athletes, more visible pathways, and increasing belief that Irish athletes can genuinely compete with the world’s best.
The female dimension of this story is particularly interesting.
Many of Ireland’s most visible athletics stars are now female, and athletics has historically offered more accessible participation pathways for women than many other sports. While there were certainly still barriers and inequalities, athletics was often comparatively progressive in encouraging female participation at club and school level. The fact that many Irish female athletes are visibly performing at the top level means that young athletes are far more likely to see people like themselves succeeding at elite level, and role models have a habit of normalising ambition in a way that statistics and participation strategies often cannot.
At the same time, female sport globally is undergoing a significant evolution. Sports science is increasingly recognising that female athletes cannot simply be trained using models originally developed around predominantly male athlete cohorts. Improved understanding around the specific female physiological responses to recovery, fuelling, hormonal balance, injury prevention, and training adaptation is helping reshape elite female performance across many sports.
This broader rise in standards appears to be reflected in Irish athletics too, and a logical next question is whether elite success can be translated into something larger.
There are certainly signs that athletics participation in Ireland is growing again. In 2025, Athletics Ireland membership surpassed 75,000 members for the first time in its history, which represented a growth of 7% from 2024. Many new clubs are forming, ands clubs are also experiencing increased interest, particularly among younger athletes and girls. Recreational running culture – whilst still not at the huge participation levels seen in the 1970s and 1980s – has also expanded significantly over the past decade, creating a wider base of engagement with endurance sport and fitness.
But moments like this can also be fragile.
Ireland now appears to have the talent, visibility, and public interest to potentially create a lasting athletics boom. However, sustaining momentum requires improvements in infrastructure, coaching capacity, volunteer support, facility access, and overall governance. Long-term development pathways all become critically important if participation growth is to continue.
That may ultimately be the most important part of this story.
The real opportunity facing Irish athletics may not simply be producing more medals or finalists. It may be the chance to reshape how athletics, and participation sport more broadly, fits into Irish life and culture over the next decade.
Because for the first time in many years, Irish athletics does not just feel successful – it feels like it may actually be building something.
I’m lucky enough to be attending the European Athletics Championships this August, and I’m genuinely excited to see what this Irish team can achieve, given the rise in standards and our team’s success in recent years. But even more interesting may be what happens beyond the elite-level competitions, and whether this current momentum can help drive a lasting growth in athletics participation across Ireland over the next decade.
STEVEN RICE is a tourism, sport and leisure consultant who has worked with national tourism bodies, giga-projects, and private sector leaders across the Middle East and internationally. A former CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, he has advised various government, corporate and private entities in the Middle East and Europe regions. He is Founder and CEO of Big Wheel Marketing, with offices in Ireland and the UAE.
Contact – steven@bigwheel.org
Tel: + 353 86 381 1563