Thomas Barr, who narrowly missed out on a bronze medal at the 400m hurdles by .05 seconds in Rio eight years ago, is preparing for his third Olympics. He is set to form part of the mixed 4x400m relay group which will participate next month in the Paris Stade de France.
The Irish squad heading to Paris has been confirmed to be 23-strong, slightly smaller than the group that went to the postponed Tokyo games. Ten among these athletes reached the qualifying standard for the Olympics, while seven more were accepted based on their ranking in their respective events. Relay team members Phil Healy and Chris O’Donnell, who also made it to the Tokyo final, will be participating in their second Olympics.
Even though Barr didn’t meet the automatic qualifying standard in the 400m hurdles last month, his inclusion came as a result of his significant contribution to the gold medal triumph at the European Championships in Rome where he ran the third leg. Barr, who will be turning 32 just two days prior to the start of the Olympics, was a member of the bronze-winning mixed relay team in the Bahamas World Relays earlier this year.
Among the athletes heading to Paris are Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker, who have qualified in the individual 400m and have also been included in both relay teams. it remains uncertain as to what their roles will be in the mixed event, since the qualifiers are scheduled for the first day of the track event, August 2nd, ahead of the finals the following evening. The individual 400m qualifiers are set for the Monday.
The first Olympic selection for Cadden, of Sligo AC, alongside McGrory from Tír Chonaill AC, and Rachel McCann of North Down AC, has been announced. The women’s 4x400m relay held in Rome saw Cadden taking part in the preliminary rounds, with the team later securing a silver medal in the finals.
There are three new additions to the list of relay reserves for the Irish team which includes Jack Raftery, the travelling reserve for the mixed relay, while Clíodhna Manning and Roisin Harrison are listed as non-travelling reserves for both relay groups. Cillin Greene, who previously participated in the Tokyo mixed relay and initiated the World Relays in the Bahamas, did not make the cut.
Adeleke is now preparing for Paris by participating in the 400m event at the Monaco Diamond League meeting on Friday evening. This event will be her first individual 400m since she bagged a silver medal at the European Championships and broke her own Irish record with a 49.07-second sprint.
Becker and Jodie McCann have been confirmed by World Athletics as the final entrants for the Paris Olympic 400m and 5,000m races respectively. Taking into consideration these latest entries along with the automatic qualifying marks, the quota for the Paris games has been finalised, with a maximum of three entries per event for each nation.
Andrew Coscoran has already automatically qualified for the men’s 1,500m in Paris, which offers 45 spots. Luke McCann will join him in the event, along with Cathal Doyle. Both Kate O’Connor in the women’s heptathlon, where she is ranked 23rd out of 24, and Nicola Tuthill in the women’s hammer throw, where she is ranked 31st out of 32 entrants, met the stringent qualification requirements. Eric Favors also managed to qualify for his first Olympic Games in the shot put, ranking 30th out of the 32 competitors in that event.
Ten athletes from Ireland have met the automatic qualifying requirements for the forthcoming Paris Olympics. The qualifying participants include Rhasidat Adeleke and Sharlene Mawdsley (400m), Sophie O’Sullivan, Ciara Mageean, Sarah Healy, Andrew Coscoran (1,500m), Mark English (800m), Sarah Lavin (100m hurdles), Fionnuala McCormack (marathon), and Brian Fay (5,000m).
Further participants for Team Ireland in track and field events for the Paris Olympics are as follows:
Adeleke, Mawdsley, and Sophie Becker (400m, Mx4x400m, W4x400m);
English (800m);
Healy, Mageean, O’Sullivan, Coscoran, Cathal Doyle, and Luke McCann (1,500m);
Fay and Jodie McCann (5,000m);
McCormack (marathon);
Lavin (100m hurdles);
Nicola Tuthill (hammer);
Kate O’Connor (heptathlon);
Eric Favors (shot put);
Lauren Cadden, Thomas Barr, Phil Healy, Rachel McCann and Kelly McGrory will also compete in Mx 4x400m, W4x400m;
and Chris O’Donnell completes the team for the Mx4x400m relay.