Nadia Power is looking beyond this year's Olympic Games to Paris 2024, yet the European Under-23 bronze medallist is not completely ruling out qualifying for this summer’s showpiece in Tokyo.
Dublin native Power garnered much attention last summer in Sweden as she battled to a bronze medal in the European Under-23 800m final, and now, looking ahead to 2020, the 22-year-old DCU student said her main focus is to make the transition into senior athletics following a successful underage career.
The first rung of that particular ladder comes this weekend at the National Indoor Championships at the Sport Ireland campus in Abbotstown, and Power believes that she can kick off the campaign with victory in the 800m event.
"I don't want to write it off, it is definitely possible..." - @NadiaPower6 has an Olympic dream. pic.twitter.com/NUp1Rw93fs
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 29, 2020
"It’s all about making the transition to senior, coming out of the Under-23s," said Power, speaking to RTÉ Sport ahead of the indoor event.
"I’ve had the head down for most of the winter and happy to be back racing for the indoor season.
"I was on the mixed relay team at the European Cross Country Championships, so that broke up the winter training."
Power may be in her rookie year as a senior, however, she has raced at this level before, securing bronze in both the indoor and outdoor equivalents last year.
The Templeogue athlete believes that Ciara Mageean and Siofra Cleirigh Buttner would be her main rivals at the distance, however, one or both may not be competing this weekend.
Which leaves Power with a clear run at the gold medal and she believes that she can take that particular podium place on Sunday afternoon.
"It's looking like a good chance for me to be competitive for the title really. I haven't seen the entries yet or anything but it's an exciting opportunity. I've never won a national senior title so...
"I finished third in indoors and outdoors last year, so hopefully I can go up the medal rankings this year."
The Dublin City Harriers athlete – she ran for her local club Templeogue AC until recently – admits that her dream remains to run in the Olympic Games, and while she feels that she will be closer to her peak in Paris in four years’ time, she says she will see where the summer takes her, in relation to nabbing a late berth on the flight to Japan.
"Obviously the Olympics are coming up, but it will be hard for me to make it to Tokyo, as I haven’t really run the times needed to go, but there is a new world ranking system, it’s all to do with points.
"It’s complicated but it opens a lot of doors for athletes like me, so my plan for the summer is to try to run the European senior qualifying time, improve my personal best and see what happens after that.
"It’s a dream since I was a kid. It’s coming too soon for me this year, to be honest.
"I don’t want to write it off, it is definitely possible, but for me, I’ve always been looking at 2024 and beyond, because that is when a middle-distance runner peaks and I will be 26 then.
"It’s all about building, so let’s see what I can do this summer and build on it after that each year."
Follow coverage of this year's National Indoor Championships on RTE.ie, the News Now App and on Saturday and Sunday Sport on RTE Radio 1.
