UCD athletes past and present achieved considerable success in the past 12 months.
At the 123.ie National Senior Indoor Championships in February, the Men’s 800m race was won by Elite Sports scholar Cian McPhillips who claimed his first senior indoor track title in a time of 1:52.79. Teammate and fellow Elite Sports scholar Mark Milner finished third in a time of 1:53.18. Ellie Hartnett ran a time of 4:24.40 to claim silver in the Women’s 1,500m race. In the Women’s 800m race, UCD Elite Sports scholar Susie Nestor finished third 2:09.56 while teammate and fellow UCD Sports scholar and first year student Renee Crotty finished in a respectable fifth 2:12.37 place. The Men’s 60m final race featured all eight finalists breaking the seven-second mark on the day. The winner was former Elite Sports scholar and alumnus Israel Olatunde who posted a time of 6.71 in the final. Elite Sports scholar Bori Akinola claimed second place in a time of 6.76.
Elite Sports Scholar Nicola Tuthill, named University Athlete of the Year, reached her first senior final at the European Championships in June, and claimed the silver medal in the U23 Women’s Hammer Throw at the European Throwing Cup. It marks the second year in a row that Nicola has won silver at the event. Nicola also broke her own Irish U23 Hammer Throw record competing at the P-T-S meeting in Slovakia, throwing a best 70.32m to finish second in the competition.
Jonas Stafford was part of the Irish Men’s U20 team that won gold at the European Cross Country Championships. Sarah Healy set a new Irish 3000m indoor record with an 8:36.06 performance at the World Indoor Tour Meet in Metz.
Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy made it an Irish 1-2 in the Women’s 1,500m Continental Tour Gold, with both UCD graduates finishing with season best times. At the same competition, Luke McCann put in a personal best time to finish third in the Men’s 1,500m.
At the European Championships in Rome, Ciara Mageean won gold in the Women’s 1,500m in a winning time of 4:04.66, a third European outdoor medal for Mageean after her bronze in Amsterdam in 2016 and her silver won in Munich in 2022. Also in the Women’s 1,500m, Sarah Healy finished seventh.
At the National Senior Track and Field Championships in June, UCD athletes secured an impressive third place in the overall medal rankings. The team claimed three gold medals: Nicola Tuthill in the Women’s Hammer, Sarah Healy in the Women’s 800m, and the Women’s 4x100m relay team, composed of Molly Hourihan, Aisling Kelly, Michelle Duggan, and Rhianna McCarthy. UCD also won three silver medals: Luke McCann in the Men’s 1,500m, Bori Akinola in the Men’s 100m, and the Women’s 4x400m relay team, featuring Mary Horgan, Renée Crotty, Molly Hourihan and Susie Nestor. Additionally, the team earned two bronze medals: Killian Barry in the Men’s Hammer and Darragh Murphy in the Men’s 200m.