Longford's Cian McPhillips has had a year to remember but that doesn't mean he can put his feet up over the festive season. The training continues and the focus remains.
"There's the World Indoors on in Poland in March, so we'll do a few races to qualify for that, and then we've the European outdoors in Birmingham and that's nearly like a home venue for us," he said.
"Loads of people have already told me that they're going to fly over for it."
In September, he made history, producing a national record of 1:42.15 while finishing fourth in the men's 800m final at the World Championships in Tokyo.
It took three Olympic medallists to beat him - 2024 champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi set a championship record of 1:41.86 in victory, edging Algeria's Djamel Sedjati (1:41.90) and Canada’s Marco Arop (1:41.95).
Although McPhillips' time wasn't fast enough to claim a medal, it was one of the best middle-distance performances in Irish history. Outside of athletics, many people had never heard of him and so wondered in amazement at this incredible feat.
However, for the Longford man, this was a long time coming. As a schoolboy he broke record after record, and it soon became clear that he was a real talent.
In 2018, aged 16, he broke the national U-18 record for the 3,000m. In 2019, he broke the national U-18 record for 1500m.
In 2021, he won gold in the U-20 1500m at the European Indoor Championships in Poland.
He then went on to smash the U-20 record for the 1500m, his time of 3:40:56 slicing two seconds off the mark his fellow Longford man Ray Flynn had set 45 years previously.
At the time, Flynn tweeted: "Keeping it Longford! Congratulations to our new European U20 Champion and now Irish Junior 1500m record holder Cian McPhillips!"
"I started pretty young, through the community games and then joined Longford Athletics Club, running around in the muck and starting off in cross country," McPhillips explains.
"I joined my coach Joe Ryan at 13 or 14 because we didn't have a track in Longford and there comes a point when you need one.
"I'd had decent success as a junior but not much then when I went to college, I was just getting the hang of everything. I was hoping to make Paris [Olympic Games] last year, and then got a bit knocked off again."
So, this year, was, he said "a long time coming", and fourth place in the World Championships was "a big step on".
"Immediately you're disappointed because you're just off the medals," he said.
"But you have to look past that and then you calm down and realise, how much of a big step on it is, especially when you look at the calibre of athletes you're up against.
"I think last place in that final would have won many of those World Championships over the years, the event has just pushed on so much."
What was going through his mind in the final metres of that race? In a post-race interview with David Gillick, Mc Phillips remarked that he had simply run out of real estate.
"I knew how quick the race was when we were going out," he further explained.
"I just ran my own race and really just paced myself at the start and then on the back straight, with about maybe 300 [metres] to go, I tried to move up, and then realised, they're still moving too quick at the front.
"Maybe I left it little bit too late, but I don't think I'd have run it any other way.
"I'm not good enough just yet to run the race the way that the medallists did, but that'll be the focus for next year."
As McPhillips juggles college work in UCD and a busy training schedule, he hasn't got home to Longford as regularly as he would like.
He is humbled by the reception he receives when he does get home, not least from the next generation of athletes at Longford Athletics Club, who see him as their hero.
"It's great. It's fantastic. I came back here after Tokyo and obviously was not on the phone over there, so I had no idea of the level of support I was getting until I came back to Longford.
"I visited my old school, the club here and we had a nice little get together. It's fantastic to get such massive support from your community."
McPhillips would love to see a proper training track for young athletes in Longford.
"I was very lucky that I had very supportive parents who were able and willing to drive me to Mullingar or to Athlone, or up to Dublin, for training wherever I needed it, but that's not possible for every family.
"We have a lot of talent in Longford, and a track would give everyone a chance to get proper training. And it would allow for a much larger talent pool for Athletics Ireland to be able to pick from."
Always looking ahead, Cian McPhillips is focused on further improving.
"I'm finishing the year now the top-ranked European and it took the three Olympic medallists to beat me," he said.
"So I'll have to catch up to them now in the next while!"
