FIVE-TIME European medallist Mark English (Finn Valley AC) and World indoor and outdoor silver medallist Kate O’Connor (Dundalk St. Gerard’s AC) will headline a strong Irish team for the upcoming World Indoor Championships.
Both athletes were named by Athletics Ireland in an initial squad selection for the event which takes place in Toruń, Kujawy Pomorze, Poland from March 20th-22nd.
The announcement confirms the selection of athletes with A standards, while athletes qualifying via ranking position and having achieved the Athletics Ireland ‘B’ Standard will be confirmed after World Athletics produces its final list of qualifiers on March 11th.
English has also been in excellent form this season lowering his own Irish indoor 800m record on two occasions. The 32-year-old from Donegal ran 1:44.23 at the World Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava, Czechia in early February before returning to altitude for a training camp. He also ran an Irish indoor 600m record in January, clocking 1:15.80 at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena in Dublin.
Commenting on the team selection, Athletics Ireland High Performance Director, Paul McNamara said:
“This is an exciting team with real prospects for medal success. Kate’s achievement in Nanjing last year has set a bar for what Irish athletes can achieve at these championships, and we travel to Poland with real intent. Along with our seasoned performers it’s great to see emerging talent make an impact this season and earn the opportunity to compete against the best in the world.”
The Ireland team is as follows:
Kate O’Connor (Women’s Pentathlon) Mark English (Men’s 800m), Maeve O’Neill (Women’s 800m), Andrew Coscoran (Men’s 3000), Nick Griggs (Men’s 3000m), Sarah Lavin (Women’s 60m Hurdles), Bori Akinola (Men’s 60m), Lauren Roy (Women’s 60m).
