Sports
Successful morning for Ireland at Birmingham 2026
It has been an excellent Saturday morning for the Irish athletes in Birmingham.
Kate O’Connor achieved a PB in the heptathlon long jump and is now in the gold medal position, PBs came for David Kenny and Oisín Lane in the Men’s Half Marathon Walk, Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan qualified for the Women’s 1500 Final, the Women’s 4 x 100m Relay team set a new National Record and qualified for the Final, and the Men’s 4 x 100m Relay team posted a Season’s Best and also advanced to tonight’s Final.
O’Connor in gold medal position
Kate O’Connor has moved into the gold medal position after Saturday morning’s action in the heptathlon at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
O’Connor began her morning with a PB of 6.55m in the long jump, and had a best effort of 50.16m in the javelin competition after that.
With one event, the 800m at 7.45pm this evening, remaining, O’Connor leads overall on 5,812, with a 51-point advantage over Emma Oosterwegel of The Netherlands on 5,761, with her compatriot Sofie Dokter in the bronze medal position with 5,741 points.
Healy & O’Sullivan qualify for Women’s 1500m Final
Both Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan qualified for Sunday evening’s final of the women’s 1500m. Both participating in heat two, Healy took third with 4:08.12 and O’Sullivan was fifth in a time of 4:08.88 with the first six advancing to the final.
Obvious delight for Sophie O’Sullivan in making the 1500m final #rtesport #EuropeanAthletics pic.twitter.com/KCIsDvLdG3
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 15, 2026
Earlier Jodie McCann took to the line for the first heat of the women’s 1500m. Despite being prominent for the first few laps, once the pace increased the Irish woman found herself drifting back, ultimately finishing in 13th place in the heat. Her time of 4:14.63 was well outside her PB of 4:06.81, and did not qualify for the final.
Women’s & Men’s 4 x 100m Relay teams make finals
Ireland’s Women’s 4 x 100m Relay team of Lucy-May Sleeman, Ciara Neville, Sarah Leahy and Lauren Roy set a new National Record in the heats this morning. Running a new Irish record time of 43.13 seconds, the team finished fourth behind Italy, Britain and Portugal.
The first three finishers qualified for the final with the next two fastest teams over the two heats also gaining final berths in the final. With Ireland finishing eighth overall, they gained a place in tonight’s final.
It was a case of ‘having to make the final’ for Bori Akinola, Sean Aigboboh, Marcus Lawler and Israel Olatunde in the 4x100m men’s relay #rtesport #EuropeanAthletics pic.twitter.com/wIOaLUn5xo
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 15, 2026
The men’s 4 x 100m Relay team of Bori Akinolo, Seán Aigboboh, Marcus Lawler and Israel Olatunde followed that soon afterward by also booking their place in the final. Running in heat 2, the men ran a season’s best time of 39.13 seconds in finishing fourth behind automatic qualifiers Italy, Germany and Belgium. With the sixth fastest time overall, Ireland booked the final spot for Saturday night.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login