All-Ireland gold for Hanlon and McAuliff
Theo Hanlon (Suncroft) won gold in the u20 Shot Photo: Perri Williams
On Saturday evening at the Prefontaine Classic in Oregon, double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet became the first woman in history to break the 14-minute barrier for 5000m. The Kenyan clocked a new world record of 13:58.06. Just 80 minutes after Chebet's record-breaking run, Chebet’s Kenyan compatriot Olympic gold medallist Faith Kipyegon re-entered the record books by breaking her own world 1500m record with 3:48.68. On this occasion there was no doubt about the authenticity of Kipyegon’s performance as she took 0.36 off the record she set in Paris last year. Unaided by pacers or speed suits or other super-duper technology as was the case with her recent exhibition attempt at the sub minute mile. 20-year-old Dutchman Neils Laros won the Bowerman mile with Ireland’s Sarah Healy finishing 7th in the ladies 1500m. Rhasidat Adeleke finished 4th in the 400m, just not quiet hitting her form yet.
On the same day in Tullamore, where the sun did not shine as brightly nor the pole vault raised quiet to the same hight as that of Mondo Duplantis, our own athletes were testing their own form at the National u20 and u23 championships. For the u23 athletes, this competition was a pre-curser to their departure for the European u23s in two weeks’ time, the final opportunity for some to achieve a qualification standard.
Kildare athletes managed to secure 7 medals; Gold went to Theo Hanlon (Suncroft) in the shot putt where he was just two centimetres off the u20 Championship record. There was a further gold as Rory Ardfiff (Le Cheile) won the u23 400m hurdles. Silver medals headed to Celbridge AC, as Cillian Gleeson finished second in the u20 5000m. Holly Wright (Crookstown-Millview) also secured silver, in the u23 Discus, while her sister Cara took bronze in the u20 discus. Isobel Kearns took bronze in the u20 Javelin and fellow clubmate Aoibhinn O’Sullivan took bronze in the u20 pole vault.
Once you emerge from the juvenile ranks it gets tougher to make the podium at national level. Athletes get more serious about competing, train harder and have higher competitive goals. Plus, the age group is not incubated with just your own age group as is the case in juvenile athletics. There is a range of three years in each age category at the U20 and U23 level, often combining the best of talent in each of those ages. In general Kildare athletics is evolving at the moment, with athletes transitioning into U20 and U23 over the next few years. This young pool of athletes emerged with five national medals.
Top of the medal list was Theo Hanlon (Suncroft). The talented shot putter who has already competed in the green vest for Ireland, was just three centimetres’ short of the qualifying standard for last year’s U18 Europeans. This year he has already achieved one B standard and is currently chasing a second. Unfortunately, swirling winds ruled out any hope of achieving that last Saturday. But there was plenty to fight for in the competition itself. Hanlon has been on top form this season, overhauling long-time rival Andrew Cooper (Kilkenny) at every competition. The Suncroft AC athlete has not been beaten at U20 level in Ireland in 2025. And he remains unbeaten.
In another head-to-head with Cooper, the Kildare man threw 17.31m in the U20 shot putt to snatch victory from lasts years reigning champion. In doing so he was just 2cm off the existing championship record of 17.33m, set by Eoin Lee (Tralee) back in 2003. Hanlon who has a fast and powerful spin (the technique used to get maximum speed to putt the shot) somewhat struggled once more with maintaining momentum within the shot circle. This resulted in three foul throws, something he could do without. Nonetheless, his three valid throws were substantially further than those of Cooper who could only manage a best of 16.36m, almost a meter behind Hanlon. The qualification window closes on 21st July, so there are a few more weeks to seek opportunities to gain that standard.
Rory Ardiff (Le Cheile) took gold in the u23 400m hurdles. In the absence of Fintan Dewhirst who had opted for the 400m flat as he heads to the European u23 championships, Ardfiff seized the moment and took gold ahead of Killarney’s Eoin O’Rielly. He finished 10 seconds clear of O’Rielly. This is Ardiff’s first National U23 gold and he set a new personal best.
Cillian Gleeson was ambitious. It’s been just a few weeks since the Celbridge AC athlete sat his leaving cert. An ordeal that is notorious for leaving even the most accomplished of athletes exhausted and drained of energy. It takes a few weeks to get back into the rhythm of running again, finding the same levels of energy that existed prior to the exams. Gleeson was determined to bounce back to form, he has after all the u20 B standard for the 3000m from his run in Belfast in May, where he recorded a rapid 8.09 minutes. Setting off at a blistering pace in the All-Ireland 5,000m last Saturday, he was already 10m clear after one lap. He continued to push the pace moving further ahead on the next and the next. 12.5 laps around the track is a long way to go, if you intend to keep increasing your lead. Unfortunately for Gleeson, he started to feel the effects of his early pace on the fourth lap. Gradually over the next few laps he was overhauled by Ryan McCarthy, a year older than himself. McCarthy had learnt a thing or two about patience in longer races in the year he had already spent at McNeese University (USA) on Scholarship. There was no quickening of pace, just a gradual steady increase. Gleeson managed to hold on to second place and finished just five seconds behind McCarthy. The European U20 is still over a month away, with plenty time for Gleeson to recoup his energy and bounce back into form.
Holly Wright (Crookstown-Millview) was up against the European U23 bound Anna Gavigan in the discus. The in-form Gavigan threw a new championship record of 54.20m to take the gold. A year older than Gavigan, Wright must have been leveraging some inspiration from Gavigan’s throw as the Kildare athlete also threw a personal best. Her throw of 43.32m came from her fourth round and was an improvement of 14cm on her previous best form two months ago. Wright has another two years in this age group.
There was another national medal heading to the Wright household as Cara Wright took bronze in the U20 discus. Like her older sister Holly, Wright is coached by Tony Shine from Naas. Under the tutelage of Shine, the younger Wright sister has been steadily improving her discus form over the last two years. She has a best of 38.82m from the Leinster Championships last month. Throwing four meters further than 2024, she has been a podium finisher on most of her 2025 competitions. Wright fouled her second and third throw and was lying in fourth place. A steady spin on the fourth round yielded a throw of 36.23m bumping her from fourth to third, where she remained to the end of the competition. This was a considerable achievement for Wright who has a further year at this level.
Isobel Kearns (Naas) is also under the tutelage of Tony Shine. In her signature event the javelin, Kearns has been a prolific championship medallist in her age group at Leinster and All-Ireland level for the past few years. Kearns threw a lifetime best of 39.24 earlier this year and has been teetering on the 40m mark this year. Passing that barrier is just a matter of time. Conditions were far from ideal in the throwing events, especially for the javelin, where crosswinds played havoc with all the athletes throws. Kearns earned her first u20 medal claiming bronze. Still only seventeen, she will have another two years competing as an u20. Kearns will compete in her own u18 championships this weekend in Tullamore.
Aoibhinn O’Sullivan (Naas) took bronze in the U20 Pole Vault. O’Sullivan leaped 2.90m which was the same height as the silver medallist Chloe Lynch of Kilkenny. Lynch however won on count back having cleared 2.90m on her first attempt. The event was not without its drama for O’Sullivan who managed to fall backwards off the landing mat on her attempt at 3m. Thankfully she was unhurt.
There were other Kildare athletes in action on the day. Sarah Millea (Celbridge) finished 4th in the u23 100m. Up against European U23 bound Lucy May Sleeman, the Celbridge athlete who got her first International call up this year, gave her best and was just eight hundredths of a second off the bronze medal. Millea later competed as part of an Irish relay selection in their last attempt to gain the 4x100m standard for the European Championships. Despite the team not making the standard set, it has been a wonderful opportunity for Millea to be part of the squad.
David Oghuvbu (Naas) finished 7th in the heats of the U23 100m with a time of 11.77. Runo Ayavoro (Newbridge) was 3rd in his heat with a time of 11.00 and was just one person away from making the final. The race was won by Sean Aigboboh (Tallaght). In the 400m fresh from her recent international debut, Sarah Kiernan (Naas) took to the blocks. Kiernan finished 4th in her heat and was just outside making the qualification for the final. Others to take part were: Lucy Hannon (Crookstown-Millivew) in the U20 100m, Rachael Beattie (Crookstown-Millview) in the U20 Long Jump.
This coming weekend is the penultimate weekend of our National Juveniles championships. The U13 to U19 will race on Saturday while the National relays and B Championships will be held on Sunday. The only remaining fixture after this is the National Combined Events which takes place on July 19th and 20th. However, for most Juvenile athletes, next weekend will be their final race this summer. For senior athletes, there are still plenty more competitions. Today the 71st Cork City Sports takes place at the MTU facility while on Friday the Morton Mile gathers an audience in Santry. There are still graded meets, AAI games and of course the National Seniors on the first week of August.
Outside the track, the road racing scene is ramping up with local and national events. The Celbridge 5k is the 21st August with the Irish Runner Road Racing series 10 mile on 20th July. Between those two dates, there is a wealth of road races ranging from 5km to half marathons just about all over the country.
