On the second day of the 123.ie National Track and Field Championships at Morton Stadium in Santry the men's 1500m final lived up to the hype with Cathal Doyle retaining his national title and securing a fourth win in a row at the championships.
Doyle held off a fast-finishing Andrew Coscoran, who won the 5000m just over an hour before in 13:34.14 from Brian Fay.
Coscoran took silver in the 1500m event in a time of 3:53.60. After a slow early pace, it was down to three in the final 200m, Doyle, Nick Griggs and Darragh McElhinney.
Griggs looked ready to pounce but couldn’t hold on to top championship racer Doyle. Coscoran came through on the outside to pip Griggs for second in a time of 3:53.90.
McElhinney had to settle for fourth with the top five all finishing within a second.
Cathal Doyle holds on despite a late Andrew Coscoran surge in a thrilling men's 1500m at the National Athletics Championships #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/WfzoVIelBx
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 3, 2025
Bori Akinola won his first senior outdoor title in the men’s 100m clocking 10.03 in windy conditions to claim gold.
Sean Agiboboh took silver in 10.41 with ex-international Irish basketballer Lorcan Murphy claiming third spot in 10.57.
Israel Olatunde was forced to withdraw from the final after winning his semi-final in 10.45.
Ciara Neville claimed her first national title since she last won the event in 2019 in the women’s 100m with a season’s best clocking of 11.44.
Neville battled with Lauren Roy who took silver with al 11.49 clocking. Mollie O’Reilly claimed bronze for the second year in a row, crossing the line in 11.60 seconds.
Sarah Lavin claimed her 18th national title in the women’s 100m hurdle, making her the most decorated female hurdler at the national championships.
Lavin clocked 12.92, Molly Scott took silver in 13.61 and Sarah Quinn made a return to the national podium with a 18.84 clocking to get bronze.
Mark English takes the Men's 800m yet again, holding off Cian McPhillips' challenge
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 3, 2025
Watch live now on RTÉ 2 📺 https://t.co/XnOP6grnB7 #RTESport pic.twitter.com/vh7nbjewew
Mark English also impressed taking his tenth national title in the men’s 800m with a 1:48.76 clocking, ahead of Cian McPhillips and Andrew Thompson of North Belfast Harriers.
The Finn Valley athlete has broken his own national record twice this year and looked in control sitting with the pack before pulling away from McPhillips and Thompson in the final 100m.
In an exciting women’s 800m Alex O’Neill surprised European Indoor Champion Sarah Healy to take her first national title in a time of 2.04.53.
The championship record of 2.02.08 that has stood since 2008 wasn't in danger, with the women going through the first 400m in over 62 seconds. Healy sat back off the pace and O’Neill led for the majority.
Healy had the inside run on the home straight but couldn’t get back on to O’Neill, clocking 2.04.57 to take silver.
Maeve O’Neill made her first senior podium with 2:04.69. A photo finish was required to determine the bronze medallist, and fourth placer Jenna Bromell was given the same time.
In the one-lap sprint events Sophie Becker successfully defended her title after a challenging start to her season. The Raheny Shamrock athlete ran 52.87 to finish ahead of Rachel McCann and Cliodhna Manning. Phil Healy was sixth in 54.58.
Jack Raftery claimed a back-to-back title in the men's 400m. In a dominant display the Donore Harriers athlete finished ahead of the field with a 45.71 clocking. Chris O'Donnell held on to the silver medal in a tight finish with Ciaran McCarthy of DSD AC.
In the women’s 1500m Laura Nicholson was another first-time national champion in 4:13.32. Zoe Toland was second in 4:15.11 and Niamh Carr third in 4:16.08.
In the first track final on day two Niamh Allen won her first track title in the women’s 5000m. The 30-year-old national cross country champion ran side-by-side with European Under-23 10,000m champion Anika Thompson before kicking away in the last 400m, closing 65 seconds to cross the line in 15:35.90.
Thompson made it a 1-2 for Leevale AC finishing five seconds behind Allen in 15:40.56, Fiona Everard of Bandon AC was third in 16:04.36.
A round-up of the field action as the National Championships come to a close in Santry #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/EDlLri6Kw6
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 3, 2025
The female athletes dominated attention in the throws with Paris Olympian Nicola Tuthill claimed her third national title in a row in the women’s hammer and also bagging a personal best of 71.75m in the final round.
Niamh Fogarty claimed her second gold of the weekend in the women’s discus.
The national record holder in the event claimed her seventh discus title with a 55.08m throw in the first round.
Anna Gavigan of LSA also threw over 50m to take silver with a 51.30m mark.
In the men’s long jump Reece Ademola successfully defended his title.
After a year plagued with injury the 22-year-old jumped 8.00m in the second round to take gold, becoming only the second Irish athlete ever to jump eight meters.
The impressive mark betters Ademola’s personal best but an illegal wind reading of +2.6m/s will mean his best legal mark from 2023 still stands at 7.97m.
The women’s long jump was won by Lauren Callaghan of Finn Valley with a 6.24m jump in the fifth round. Saragh Buggy picked up a second silver of the weekend with a jump just shy of six metres.
In the men’s 110m hurdles Adam Nolan claimed his first outdoor title after a dramatic fall in last year’s championship saw him unable to finish. He crossed the line ahead of Gerard O’Donnell and high jump champion Conor Penney in 14.24.
