The 27th edition of the European Athletics Championships starts tomorrow and, with a big Irish team in action in Birmingham along with plenty of international stars, you won’t be stuck for entertainment across the seven days.
The 46-strong team features several past European Championship medallists, with Kate O’Connor, Mark English, Rhasidat Adeleke and Sarah Healy headlining in green.
Sharlene Mawdsley’s withdrawal is a serious blow, especially for the women’s 4x400m relay squad, and Sophie Becker will now be the only representative in the individual 400m event, when two Irish women featured in the final in 2024.
Medal tally predictions are futile in this sport though.
The margins between coming home with a haul and absolutely nothing are so small, but after Ireland’s best ever result in 2024 – and more eyes on the sport in years – expectations are incredibly high.
Combine those expectations with Birmingham’s proximity to Ireland, and it almost feels like a home championships, especially when you consider the sheer number of Irish fans that are making the short hop across the water.
The Birmingham organisers have reported that 12% of tickets sold have gone to Irish fans, and the official Irish Athletics Supporters Club have 1,300 people travelling as part of their group.
Athletes can expect to see plenty of tricolours and have loud support at the Alexander Stadium in the north of the city.
The weather promises to be anything but British for the seven days of competition with highs of 31 degrees forecast for Wednesday and Thursday.
Mark English leads the Irish charge in the men’s 800m
There could be perfect conditions for the men’s 800m final taking place on Thursday evening where one of the oldest championship records may be under threat.
The 1:43.84 clocking in 1978 by Olaf Beyer of East Germany could well go, with seven men in Europe under the time this season, the fastest of them all is Ireland’s Mark English.
English is in the form of his life, running sub 1:43 for the first time just last month to finish second at the Diamond League in London.
He has ticked off some other career goals this season, winning a Diamond League event for the first time in China in May, and seems well on his way to checking the box beside another European medal in Birmingham.
Can he improve on the set of bronze medals he won in the 2014 and 2022 edition of these championships?
English has well and truly bounced back after missing the final in the last two global championships and comes into Birmingham in new and confident territory with the leading time in Europe this year.
Fans are salivating at the thought of two Irish men making the podium in the event with Cian McPhillips also a player after finishing fourth at the World Championships last September.
The last time two Irish athletes shared a podium was at the World Indoors in 1987 when Frank O’Mara took the win in the 3000m and Paul Donovan was right behind him.
It was a momentous occasion for Irish athletics but one that will be incredibly hard to repeat.
McPhillips has had to overcome quite a few challenges since that fourth-place finish in Tokyo.
He missed the majority of the indoor season with a dental problem and has been returning to form outdoors after an injury hampered build-up, though he is improving with every race.
He lowered his season’s best to 1:43.97, behind English, at the London Diamond League meeting and followed this up with his first outdoor national title in Santry two weeks ago.
Cian McPhillips eases to an impressive gold in the Men’s 800m at the Irish Nationals. Cillian Kirwan is second after setting a blistering early pace.
Watch all the action on RTÉ 2 or here – https://t.co/XnOP6grnB7 pic.twitter.com/vMcKFSUQyc
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 26, 2026
As McPhillips proved in Tokyo, he is a supreme championship racer and despite not quite being at his best, don’t rule him out if he gets a lane in Thursday’s final.
There will of course be international challenges to overcome, and it would be remiss of English and McPhillips to rule out Gabriel Tual of France and Eliot Crestan of Belgium, but both have had sub-par seasons meaning a European title really is there for the taking.
Kate O’Connor has had 17 days to recover after the Commonwealth Games
Kate O’Connor has been no stranger to the podium over the last 18 months and Birmingham is another opportunity for her to cement her status as one of the world’s best multi-eventers and among Ireland’s most successful athletes.
It will be a fast turnaround for O’Connor, who claimed gold at the Commonwealth Games at the end of July, but she is well used to back-to-back competitions.
In 2025 she navigated a European Indoors and World Indoors just 15 days apart. This time she has had 17 days to recover and just the 45-minute flight to contend with rather than the 20 hours of travel to Nanjing.
With a busy championship schedule O’Connor chose not to compete in any events in the lead-up to those Commonwealth Games.
While that is normal enough for multi-eventers and an earned privilege for those who qualify automatically, it meant it was the first glimpse at the World silver medallist’s current form.
It was a solid competition for the Dundalk native who had to battle rainy conditions in the shot put which was the only event in which she was down on her usual standard.
At the Europeans she will have pentathlon World Indoor champion Sofie Dokter to contend with again.
Dokter and O’Connor were locked in a battle for the medals at those indoor championships earlier this year, with the Dutch woman getting the better of O’Connor by just 49 points.
Dokter set a new heptathlon personal best in Gotzis in May of 6627 points, which is still 67 points shy of the tally O’Connor accumulated in Tokyo last year and her countrywoman Emma Oosterwengel is another contender with a 6,705 point personal best set this year.
2024 Olympic silver medallist Katerina Johnson-Thompson, or ‘KJT’ as she is nicknamed, has competed sparingly this year and was a last-minute withdrawal from the Commonwealth Games last month.
A sub-par shot put mark of 12.97m is the only indicator of her form but don’t take the withdrawal from the Commonwealth Games as a sign, she pulled up in Day 1 of the Europeans in 2024 before going on to win an Olympic medal.
Rhasidat Adeleke secured 200m qualification at the national championships
Rhasidat Adeleke is cutting the distance she won silver over in 2024 in half and will compete in the 200m in Birmingham.
Adeleke will be a real contender for a place in the final but is ranked 11th this year after her clutch 22.80 performance at the national championships that sealed her place on the Irish team for the championship.
Rhasidat Adeleke thrilled the Santry crowds as she clocked a brilliant 22.80 in the women’s 200m – good enough for the national title and a European Championship qualification time. Katie Kirk reports from Morton Stadium. pic.twitter.com/BIAvzrhg3Q
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 25, 2026
Lauren Roy is just behind in 12th, and both will receive a bye to the semi-final as they are ranked highly in the event.
National record holder Seán Aigboboh has the potential to make a splash in the men’s 200m.
He broke Paul Hession’s 2007 mark in April with a 20.27 clocking and is ranked fifth this year but has had a long season in the United States in his legs.
Aigbohboh, like Adeleke, comes from the Tallaght AC stable but is now coached by Carl Lewis at the University of Houston and will also skip the first round, making his individual senior debut in the semi-final on Thursday’s evening session.
Sarah Healy has stated her intention to contend both the 5000m and the 1500m at these championships, her first time doubling up as a senior athlete.
The European Indoor 3000m champion will compete in the longer event on Tuesday where she is ranked third and then again in the heats of the 1500m on Saturday where she will hope to secure qualification to the final on the last day of the championships.
Sophie O’Sullivan will join her in the metric mile, where Irishwoman Ciara Mageean is the title holder.
Mageean won’t be defending her title, but will be joining the RTÉ panel in studio for several days of the championships.
O’Sullivan will be targeting her first major final. Last year she progressed to the semi-final stage at the Worlds in Tokyo in emphatic style, but arguably she comes into this in better form that last year, running a solo 4:05.62 to win her second national title two weeks ago and bettering mum Sonia’s championship record in the process.
Olympian Jodie McCann completes Ireland’s line-up in the women’s 1500m.
Only one member of the above quartet will compete in the individual 400m – Sophie Becker
Ireland have chosen to send big panels in the relay events, but strangely the only one missing is the discipline in which they hold the European title, the mixed 4x400m.
Keen followers of the sport won’t be shocked to hear that, but the casual viewer might be confused not to see an Irish vest in the mixed-gender relay on Monday evening.
The mixed squad were just outside the top eight to qualify for the championships and a new country will claim the crown.
There is uncertainty around the women’s 4x400m squad who are now without their anchor and key player Mawdsley.
It is hard to see Adeleke lining up for the heats on Friday morning when the 200m final is on Thursday evening but never say never.
Even with Adeleke in the squad, making the final could be a big ask in a strong event with GB and NI, the Netherlands and Poland fielding strong quartets.
The women’s 4x100m quartet will be the strongest in Irish history if Adeleke is chosen to take part in the heats on Saturday.
If they can get the baton round a first-ever final place is on the cards, with fourth place in the heats the best any previous Irish squad have managed.
With Roy, Lucy-May Sleeman, Ciara Neville and Adeleke, it could be the new relay team for Irish fans to get behind.
Nicola Tuthill was a European finalist at just 20 years old in an event where age is advantageous
There are only two out-and-out field eventers at these championships. Nicola Tuthill and Eric Favors will compete in the women’s hammer and men’s shot put on the first day.
Without being aware it could go by you without much fanfare, such is the unfair divide in coverage, but Tuthill made the final in Rome at just 20 years old and is ranked ninth in Europe this year which bodes well going into next week.
She is also closing in on Eileen O’Keefe’s national record of 73.21m and with a best of 72.73m this year is poised to make the cut but described the competition in Europe as “insane”.
There has been some criticism of Athletics Ireland’s omission of several field eventers at this championship and while the disciplines deserve development, they are held to the same standards as those who compete on the track, where a ‘B’ standard is required to be considered for selection.
Whenever you choose to tune into the athletics over the next week it won’t be hard to find Irish interest with up to 51 opportunities to see athletes in green in action.
Downplaying medal chances might be good for athletes’ heads but it is certain that a few will be returning to Dublin with some additional hand luggage – in which events it remains to be seen.
Watch the European Athletics Championships from Monday to Sunday with morning and evening sessions on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.