Irish women win Silver at the 4 x 400m relay final at the European Championships...

The Irish team of Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy and Sharlene Mawdsley win silver in the 4x400m relay at the European Athletics Championships in Rome.

Video...

Ciara Mageean wins Gold in the Women's 1500m at the European Championships

Ciara Mageean finished first in the Women's 1500m final to take Gold for Ireland in the European Championships in Rome.

Medal ceremony...

Irish mixed relay team win Gold at the 2024 European Championships in Rome

Late on Friday evening, the Irish mixed relay team of Chris O'Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley won Gold in the Mixed 4x400m Relays final at the European Championships in Rome.

Race video below...

Post race interview below....

Ciara Mageean wins Bronze in the 1500m at the European Athletics Championships

After a few years of injury, Ciara Mageean from Partoferry in Co.Down was in action today in the final of the womens 1500m at the European Athletics Championships. In what was a slow tactical race, Ciara put in a blistering final 100m to pass others to take the Bronze medal.

Ciara Mageean's lung-busting run to clinch bronze (and very nearly silver) at the European Championships. #RTEsporthttps://t.co/qw4H51jjcN

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 10, 2016

She is now clearly one of the top European 1500m athletes and still only 24 years old. What a talent!

Full race...


Post race interview with Will Downing...

Irish Medallists at the European Athletics Championships...
1958 Ronnie Delany BRONZE 1500m
1969 Frank Murphy SILVER 1500m
1978 Eamonn Coghlan SILVER 1500m
1994 Sonia O'Sullivan GOLD 3000m
1998 Sonia O'Sullivan GOLD 10,000m
1998 Sonia O'Sullivan GOLD 5000m
1998 Mark Carroll BRONZE 5000m
2002 Sonia O'Sullivan SILVER 5000m
2002 Sonia O'Sullivan SILVER 10,000m
2006 Derval O’Rourke SILVER 100m Hurdles
2010 Derval O’Rourke SILVER 100m Hurdles
2010 Robert Heffernan BRONZE 20km Walk
2014 Mark English BRONZE 800m
2016 Ciara Mageean BRONZE 1500m

Irish athletes through to finals in European Athletics Championships

Cork athlete Michelle Finn was in action today in the womens 3000m steeplchase race at the European Athletic Championships in Amsterdam. After staying out of trouble in the early stages, Michelle came though take fourth place in a seasons best time to qualify for the final on Sunday.

In the other heat, Sara Treacy and Kerry Flaherty both ran personal best times to get to the final as well.

The 3000m final is on Sunday at 3:15pm Irish time.

In the qualifying rounds of the womens 1500m, Ciara Mageean finished third to get through to the final on Sunday.

After getting boxed in during the race, she had a strong finish in the home straight.

Ciara who is from Portaferry in Co.Down is one of Ireland's best track athletes and the final of the 1500m is on Sunday at 3:45pm.

Michelle Finn from Cork on the left staying out of trouble in the women's 3000m Steeplechase

Will Downing interviews...

Ciara Mageean...


Michelle Finn...

Coverage of the European Athletics Championships...Wed 6th to Sun 10th July

The European Athletic Championships start today Wednesday the 6th of July in Amsterdam and runs until Sunday the 10th of July. Athletics Ireland have a full list of Irish competitors HERE but these are some of the ones to watch out for.....

Coverage on RTE 2 TV (Irish Time)...
WEDNESDAY JULY 6...15.30 – 18.45 .......6pm Fionnuala McCormack in the 10,000m

THURSDAY JULY 7...14.30 – 19.00

FRIDAY JULY 8...16.30 – 20.55 .....12:30pm Michelle Finn, Sara Treacy & Kerry O'Flaherty in the 3000m steeplechase.....5:15pm Ciara Mageean in Round 1 of the 1500m....

SATURDAY JULY 9...18.00 – 21.10

SUNDAY JULY 10...08.15 – 10.00 & 15.45 – 18.25 .........8:30am Claire McCarthy & Gladys Ganiel in the Half-Marathon, 8:50am Mark Hanrahan, Sergiu Ciobanu, Paul Pollock, Kevin Seaward, Gary Murray & Mick Clohisey.....3:15pm Michelle Finn, Sara Treacy & Kerry O'Flaherty in the final of the 3000m steeplechase.

The link for the events and results is HERE

The live stream link is HERE     ...Remember, Amsterdam is one hour ahead.

One to watch : Ciara Mageean in the womens 1500m.

16 year journey for Dutch athlete Susan Kuijken...From Dream to Bronze

Now that the 2014 European Athletic Championships in Zurich are over, I have a lot of links, results and interviews of the Irish performances in this post.

As you would expect, this championship generated its fair share of video clips on the net including post race interviews. The most popular are usually for the big names in athletics as they expressed their joy or frustration at their respective performances.

One however stood out for me and it was the post race interview with the Dutch athlete Susan Kuijken. For her, it was the realisation of a dream instilled in her by her junior coach at the age of 12 that one day she would win a medal at a major championship. Last Saturday aged 28, she finished third in the 5000m to win a European Bronze medal to finish that 16 year journey.

In the interview below, she gives an emotional account of what that medal means to her and how she realised her dream...