Ireland’s hopes for a golden generation
IRELAND HAS HIGH HOPES FOR BERLIN AND BEYOND
‘IN THE SPRINT EVENTS, THE STANDARDS HAVE BEEN STEEPLING’ IT’S THE ACTION IN BERLIN THAT WILL CONSUME MOST OF THE ATTENTION
EXPECTATION blooms around Irish athletics. Patience and understanding of the treacherous traps that can swallow the most promising careers whole will be needed, too. But even within the sport, there is an understanding that the achievements of the past year, and particularly this summer, are cultivating an optimism around the sport that hasn’t been felt for at least a generation.
A year ago, Gina Akpe-Moses became the first Irish athlete to win a European sprint title, coming first in the 100m at the junior championships in Italy. Last month, she was part of the 4x100m women’s team that took silver at the World Under 20 championships in Finland, alongside Molly Scott, Ciara Neville, and Patience Jumbo-Gula.
At the European Under 18 Championships in Hungary, also in July, the gifted Rhasidat Adeleke won gold in the 200m; she is still 15 years of age.
Sarah Healy came first in the 1500m and the 3000m at the same championships, while Sophie O’Sullivan took silver in the 800m.
It moved one excited Athletics Ireland observer to describe this junior generation as Ireland’s Class of 92.
The giddiness is understandable, but drawing a comparison between a developing generation and the young players that inspired Manchester United’s most successful ever period is somewhat previous.
There are certainly grounds for hope, but those expecting an immediate dividend when the athletics start at the European Championships tomorrow need to tailor their predictions.
For instance, Healy, O’Sullivan and the gifted Adeleke will not be in Berlin as they are junior athletes. Jumbo-Gula is still just 16. Some of these talents may not be ready for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, let alone a competitive meet featuring the best of Europe’s talent this week.
Akpe-Moses, Neville and Scott will compete in the 4x100m relay, with Phil Healy likely to complete the team. Healy has had a tremendous season so far, breaking the national 100m and 200m records in less than two months.
An indication of the competitiveness she and all her team-mates will confront this week, however, can be taken from her times and where they rank among her European peers this season. Healy ran 11.28 seconds to beat the Irish record; that is the 27th best time ran by a European this season. Her time for the 200m is 22.99; that is the 17th-best in Europe.
In the sprint events in particular, where Ireland has no extensive tradition of success, the prevailing standards are steepling.
One sprinter who will run in a green singlet in this championships is Leon Reid, English-born but son of a Belfast mother, whose desire to switch allegiance from Britain to Ireland was satisfied by a decision of the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) on Friday afternoon.
The 42-strong Irish side does still contain a number of athletes who will entertain ambitions of a podium place nonetheless.
Ciara Mageean won bronze in the 1500m at the Europeans in Amsterdam in 2016, but the two years since have been undermined by injuries and sickness.
At the World Championships in London last summer, she failed to make it out of the heats. That prompted significant changes, including a move to Manchester after years training under Jerry Kiernan in Dublin. There is no classier Irish runner when fit, and she will be just one of those in Berlin whose plans are now being shaped by Olympic ambitions. The 1500m women’s heats begin on Friday afternoon.
In Rio two years ago, Tom Barr almost entered Irish running legend. Had he held on to take bronze in the 400m hurdles, it would have placed him behind Ronnie Delany, John Treacy and Sonia O’Sullivan among the country’s most successful performers on the most illustrious of all stages.
Barr is in reasonable form this year, his season’s best of 48.99 seconds placing fifth among European contenders. That is over a second slower than the 47.97 he ran in Rio, and if he were to even close on that time in Berlin, he would contend. The heats begin tomorrow evening and continue into Tuesday morning. The men’s marathon is another race where an Irish contender could be prominent. Mick Clohisey, one of the five Irish slated to compete, has ran 2hrs 14mins 55seconds this season, which leaves him 18th in the European rankings.
He and Kevin Seaward could target a top-10 finish when they toe the line this day week. There are four Irish entrants in the women’s marathon.
This is not a regular European athletics hit-out, given it is one of seven European championships being held under one banner, the other events being held in Scotland.
Track cycling, rowing and gymnastics began last Thursday, with the first swimmers hitting the water on Friday. Diving begins on Tuesday, and the triathlon starts on Friday. A golf tournament will also be held, played at the PGA Centenary course in Gleneagles.
If Tom Barr can even close on his personal best, then he would contend ROARING HOME: Tom Barr (main) and the Irish team (inset) will compete in Berlin this week
It is the action in Berlin that will consume most attention, but the decision to package individual championships in an attempt to appeal to the public and broadcasters is interesting. ‘This event aims to increase the levels of awareness and recognition such achievements deserve by creating a must-watch, mustattend experience that elevates all champions of Europe,’ runs the official blurb. ‘Most of them lacked any general cut-through with the public, so you transform something which only appeals to dedicated fans of the sport,’ said one of the co-founders, Paul Bristow. TV companies have bought in; RTÉ will be broadcasting coverage for up to 12 hours a day this week. It is an imaginative, self-starting idea by sports that can sometimes resent the coverage devoted to the dominant field games. Using one of the few windows in the calendar not filled by soccer and rugby guarantees an audience, while there should be enough Irish interest to fit around football and hurling championships nearing their crescendos. The shadow of cheating has now become a part of the landscape at major meets, and that will not easily change.
Russia remains banned from competing in athletics, with the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) re-confirming its status last week.
It was the publication of the McLaren Report in 2016 that led to Russia’s shame. Unsurprisingly, the Russian federation continues, in the face of overwhelming evidence and the widespread acceptance that cheating was facilitated by a state riven by corruption, to argue its innocence.
Seventy-four Russians have been cleared by the IAAF to compete in Berlin as neutral athletes. Applications from 68 more were rejected, itself an indication of the continuing problems posed by the rotten culture that has taken hold in the country.
The European Championships run until Sunday next, finishing with the final of the women’s and men’s 4x100m relay.
An Irish team in the women’s race would be the perfect punctuation point – and more proof that this generation, if not yet golden, blaze with promise.