Athletics star Ciara Mageean and swimming champion Gráinne Murphy have scooped The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council ‘Sportswoman of the Month’ award for their outstanding performances in July.
Mageean collected silver at the World Youth Championships in Italy and gold at the European Youth Olympics in Finland.
Murphy has been honoured for her performance at the European Junior Championships in Prague, where she won three gold and one bronze medal, as well as her record-breaking swim in the 200 metres Individual Medley event at the World Championships in Rome.
The two teenagers will battle it out with other monthly winners at the end of 2009 to be named the Sportswoman of the Year.
Earlier this year, 17 year-old Mageean, from Portaferry, Co. Down had broken Sonia O’Sullivan’s 22 year-old national junior 800 metres record, an event that she went on to claim silver in at the World Youth Championships at the beginning of July.
Her time of 2 minutes 3.07 seconds is one of the fastest performances by an Irish woman of any age. Later in the month Mageean secured a gold medal at the European Youth Olympics, beating both the championship record, held by Sonia O’Sullivan’s old rival Gabriela Szabo, and an 18 year-old Irish record set by Natalie Davey.
Meanwhile, 16 year-old Murphy was making waves at the European Junior Championships in Prague. Murphy was the most successful swimmer at the competition, winning three gold and one bronze medal and breaking two championship records in the process.
The Co. Wexford teenager is the first Irish swimmer to win gold at the championships, placing her at number 23 in the world in the 400 metre Individual Medley event. Her success continued throughout July at the World Championships in Rome, where she broke a record set by Michelle Smith De-Bruin at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, making her the fastest female Irish swimmer in history over this distance.
In the month of July alone, Murphy set two European Junior, four Irish Senior, and 10 Irish Junior swimming records, an exceptional achievement which marks a very hopeful future for the talented swimming sensation.
The two will join Wicklow boxer, Katie Taylor, Cavan golfing twins, Leona and Lisa Maguire, Antrim show jumper, Jessica Kurten, Sligo athlete Mary Cullen, Meath horse-racing champion, Nina Carberry and Cork athlete, Derval O’Rourke as contenders for The Sportswoman of the Year.
