{"id":191406,"date":"2025-12-14T13:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T13:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/191406\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T13:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T13:59:10","slug":"ireland-claim-mens-silver-as-tearful-nick-griggs-seals-u-23-individual-and-team-gold-at-european-cross-country-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/191406\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland claim men\u2019s silver as tearful Nick Griggs seals U-23 individual and team gold at European Cross Country Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

It proved the highlight on a historic day for the Irish, with the senior men\u2019s team claiming its first medal for 25 years \u2013 a superb silver, led by Jack O\u2019Leary in fifth \u2013 while 16-year-old Emma Hickey announced her star potential with a bronze medal in the women\u2019s U-20 race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unreal,\u201d said Griggs. \u201cI haven\u2019t cried in a long time but there\u2019s been a few tears shed. I can\u2019t describe it. I\u2019ve wanted this for so long and for it to come together, it\u2019s so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The winning Ireland team, from left, Callum Morgan, Lughaidh Mallon, Nick Griggs, Jonas Stafford and Niall Murphy after the U23 men’s race at the 2025 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal. Photo by Sam Barnes\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Yet to turn 21, Griggs has now amassed an astonishing seven medals at the European Cross Country, but before today he had never previously won an individual gold. \u201cI\u2019ve been dreaming of it for a long time,\u201d he said. \u201cI was a nearly man at these champs, but finally I\u2019m going to be at the top of the podium.\u201d<\/p>\n

His performance was an utterly dominant one, Griggs slowly coasting into contention on the first of four laps in the 5960m race and breaking clear on the final lap. He put huge daylight between himself and the field and hit the line in 17:47, 12 seconds clear of Aur\u00e9lien Radja (17:59) of France, whose teammate Pierre Boudy took bronze in 18:03.<\/p>\n

He was backed up by training partner Callum Morgan in eighth, with Niall Murphy rounding out the Irish team scoring in 10th. That handed the Irish a comfortable team victory with just 19 points, with France second on 33 and Spain third (43).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so proud of myself and so proud of the lads beside me,\u201d said Griggs. \u201cI train with two of them, two of my best mates. It\u2019s an unbelievable group of lads. They all put it together on the day and I\u2019m just so proud that we managed to come home with a historic double gold for Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morgan had the race of his life in eighth. \u201cIn my mind there was no doubt that Nick was going to win gold,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was just about us backing him up as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The second place Ireland team, from left, Brian Fay, Efrem Gidey, Cormac Dalton, Jack O’Leary and Darragh McElhinney after the senior men’s race at the 2025 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal. Photo by Sam Barnes\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

In the senior men\u2019s race, Mullingar\u2019s Jack O\u2019Leary \u2013 nephew of Ryanair CEO Michael O\u2019Leary \u2013 ran a remarkable run to finish fifth, clocking 22:25. Gold went to Spain\u2019s Thierry Ndikumwenayo in 22:05, who outkicked world 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier of France in a close finish.<\/p>\n

Fay was the second Irishman home in 10th, equalling his finishing position from 2021, and Cormac Dalton was just behind in 11th. In a remarkable show of strength, all five Irishmen cracked the top-20, with Darragh McElhinney 16th and Efrem Gidey 19th. That left Ireland with a points tally of 26, with Spain taking victory with 16 and France third with 37.<\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/p>\n

Emma Hickey of Ireland with her bronze medal after the U20 women’s race at the 2025 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal. Photo by Sam Barnes\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Emma Hickey turned in a magnificent performance to win bronze in the U-20 women\u2019s race. The 16-year-old was among the youngest athletes at the championships, the Wexford native still with three more years at U-20 level, but she turned in a run far beyond her years, hitting the line in 15:10 for the 4450m distance to win Ireland\u2019s first ever medal in this race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting it at all,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to do well but I didn\u2019t think it\u2019d be possible (to win a medal) because I\u2019m only 16. I didn\u2019t know if I\u2019d be able to hold it the whole time, but I managed to keep it [going]. It\u2019s my first proper season and it\u2019s great to finish it off like this, and hopefully I can go into next season even better and improve my times again.\u201d<\/p>\n

British star Innes Fitzgerald proved a class apart out front, hitting the line in 14:35, a whopping 32 seconds clear of runner-up Lucie Paturel of France. Ireland\u2019s Anna Gardiner turned in a fine performance to finish sixth in 15:17.<\/p>\n

\"Laura<\/p>\n

Laura Nicholson of Ireland collides with Ireland teammate Cian McPhillips on the changeover during the mixed relay race at the 2025 SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal. Photo by Sam Barnes\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n

There was disappointment in the mixed relay as a strong Irish quartet of Eimear Maher, Cian McPhillips, Laura Nicholson and Andrew Coscoran came home sixth, clocking 17:22 in a race won by Italy (17:12) ahead of Portugal (17:16) and Britain (17:17).<\/p>\n

The Irish were firmly in medal contention up to halfway but a botched second exchange proved costly, McPhillips crashing into Nicholson while handing over the wristband, the Bandon woman crashing to the ground and losing a few seconds. Coscoran was simply left with too much to do on the anchor leg to get back in the medal hunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was struggling with the tight corners and it was just unfortunate, coming in at full speed I couldn\u2019t get out of Laura\u2019s way,\u201d said McPhillips. \u201cIt\u2019s not a great run from me, but we\u2019ll move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicholson said she \u201cjust wasn\u2019t prepared for Cian\u2019s strength giving the hand-off\u201d, adding that she \u201ctumbled over and fell through [his] legs. But I feel like it didn\u2019t put me back too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

National champion Fiona Everard had the race of her life in the senior women\u2019s race, leading the Irish home in 10th, clocking 25:54, with fellow Cork woman Niamh Allen 23rd in 26:15. Italy\u2019s Nadia Battocletti turned in another majestic performance to take gold, sauntering to victory in 24:52 ahead of Britain\u2019s Megan Keith (25:07) and Turkey\u2019s Yasemin Can (25:13). Danielle Donegan was the third Irish scorer in 36th, the Irish women finishing eighth.<\/p>\n

Kirsty Maher was the leading Irish finisher in the U-23 women\u2019s race, coming home 11th, with Amy Greene 20th. Noah Harris led the Irish in the U-20 men\u2019s race, finishing 10th, with Cormac Dixon 13th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It proved the highlight on a historic day for the Irish, with the senior men\u2019s team claiming its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16452,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-191406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cathal-dennehy","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}