The World Relays in Guangzhou will offer the first opportunity to see how Ireland's full relay squad have wintered after a fruitful 2024.
For the first time since that memorable day in Paris, Rhasidat Adeleke and Sophie Becker, who were absent for the international indoor season, will again pull on the green vest that has served them so well, depending on squad selections.
Chris O’Donnell also skipped the bulk of the indoors, racing just once on the short track, clocking 48.5 in a low-key outing in Birmingham in February. This isn’t unusual for the Sligo man, who typically chooses not to peak for indoor competition.
"I didn’t take the indoor race very seriously; it was just getting some sort of run-out into the legs as I usually do. The focus is always on outdoors," O’Donnell told RTÉ Sport.
The 27-year-old, who will celebrate his birthday next week, also reveals he has been dealing with injury and could have considered not making the trip.
"In the last few weeks, I was carrying a bit of a hip injury coming into these.
"I could have stayed at home, but I really wanted to come out here. We had a very good camp, I was getting treated by the physios and I’ve literally come good in the last few days."
With the hip, a possible reminder of his years playing soccer, now in good order, O’Donnell’s focus lands on getting the mixed and men’s relay squads qualified for the World Championships, which take place in Tokyo from 13 to 21 September.
Ireland will have two opportunities to qualify each squad for the worlds in September at the event. The top two teams of four heats will gain automatic spots, with all remaining teams entering a second-chance round on day two.
The format tries to keep nations competitive in the final by having optimal lane draws for those World Championships and prize money up for grabs, but this isn't a priority for the Irish in Guangzhou.
The squad selections may remain a secret for now, but O’Donnell isn’t hiding Ireland’s strategy of targeting qualification over medals for the two-day event in China.
"The one secret we don’t have is that our goal is to qualify the three teams, not to prioritise one event or get medals.
"We see the World Relays medals as secondary to qualifying the teams. If it comes to a stage where one is qualified on day one, and we go into day two needing to prioritise another, that’s what we’ll do instead of taking the final seriously."
In last year’s global relay event Cillín Greene, Thomas Barr, Adeleke and Sharlene Mawdsley took home a silver in the mixed 4x400m.
O’Donnell was excluded from the squad on that occasion, but went on to run the first leg on the squad that claimed gold in Rome.
It seems with the change of tack in 2025, that a medal would be a bonus, but not the main goal for the sport that is currently on an upward trajectory.
This year, O’Donnell will no doubt play a crucial role and revealed he will run in either the mixed or men’s 4x400m on day one of the competition, where the efforts of the large squad will be spread.
"I’ve been told I can’t say anything on team news. I will be running on one of the teams on Saturday. Nobody is going to be doubling up on the first day, we will spread our eggs across a few baskets."
The inclusion of the men’s squad at the World Relay event for the first time in 10 years represents the dawn of a new era, which O’Donnell explains has been inspired by the rise of the women’s team.
"We have been watching the girls doing well recently and we've kind of been just saying 'look we need to get our act together now, we need to get together'.
"We need to get four lads, four of our best lads in the best form, passing the baton well around on the track. That's all we have to do, because we haven't done that in eight years, we're going to do that this weekend and then we're going to see what happens."
Watch the World Athletics Relays from 11.50am Saturday live on Eurovision Sport.
