Irish Olympians who competed at the Tokyo Olympics such as Thomas Barr (400mH), Sarah Lavin (100mH), Louise Shanahan (800m), Sarah Healy (UCD AC), Michelle Finn (3000mSC), Marcus Lawler (200m & 400m), Mark English (800m), David Kenny (10,000mWalk), Phil Healy (400m), Sophie Becker (400m), Christopher O’Donnell (400m) and Fionnuala McCormack (5000m) will all compete this weekend.

From team mates to rivals

The women’s 400m will see Ireland’s fastest women take to the start line. Phil Healy (Bandon AC), Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock AC), Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC), and Róisín Harrison (Emerald AC) move from Irish 4x400m teammates to rivals through the heats on Saturday ahead of Sunday’s final at 7:45pm. Healy and Becker will be neck and neck after Healy clocked a season best of 51.82 seconds just 0.01 seconds faster than Becker’s recent PB.

2022 World Indoor Championship Finalist and Olympian Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC) is set to produce another incredible performance in the 100m Hurdles this afternoon at 3pm, after setting a new PB of 12.93 seconds while competing in Spain this past week.

Olympian Marcus Lawler (Clonliffe Harriers) is set to lead the men’s 200m competition but will have a battle on his hands with Robert McDonnell (Galway City Harriers) and Mark Smyth (Raheny Shamrock AC) also taking to the start line at 4.10pm on Saturday.

In the middle-distance finals, Nick Griggs (Mid Ulster AC) and Luke McCann (UCD AC) will compete in the 1500m.

Competitive Men’s 5,000 title

Darragh McElhinney (UCD AC), Paul Robinson (St Coca’s AC), Hiko Haso Tonosa (DSD AC), Paul O’Donnell (DSD AC), Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers), Keelan Kilrehill (Moy Valley AC), Scott Fagan (Metro St Brigid’s AC) and Emmet Jennings (DSD AC) will all be in contention for the Men’s 5,000m final championship title.

Olympian Sarah Healy (UCD AC) in the 1500m will be an event not to miss. Having secured her first 1500m senior title last year, she has since broken Sonia O’Sullivan’s 1991 Irish U23 record this season in 4:02.86 (4^th all time).

There will be a team aspect in the field events for the 150th edition of the championships, with the best performance of the top 2 club athletes being added together. The overall team winners will be presented with a special medal.

Action live on Youtube and RTÉ

Saturday’s action begins at 1.30pm, while competition starts on Sunday at 1pm.

Both days of competition will be streamed on the Athletics Ireland YouTube Channel.

RTÉ will be covering the Championships on Radio 1 throughout both days and RTÉ 1 Live television coverage from 6.05pm-8.30pm on Sunday.

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The first national athletics championships were organised in College Park (Trinity College Dublin) on July 7th, 1873. The Championships have been held every year since then, making the Irish national championships the longest running consecutive national senior championships in the world.

Aiming for World qualifying times

Throughout their history they have seen Ireland’s top athletics talent secure both championship title and qualifications for international success. This weekend athletes will be looking to secure world ranking points and qualifying standards ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Oregon next month and the European Athletics Championships in Munich in August.

The action gets underway from 1.30pm on Saturday, with a second helping taking place on Sunday from 1pm.

Both days of the competition will be streamed on the Athletics Ireland YouTube Channel. RTÉ will be covering the Championships on Radio 1 throughout both days and RTÉ 1 Live television coverage from 6:05pm-8:30pm on Sunday.

The post Irish Life Health National Athletics Championships at Morton Stadium this weekend appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.