In his now nine years as Athletics Ireland Director of High Performance, Paul McNamara has repeatedly witnessed success and failure jostling for position. Come every major championship stage the winning or not winning of medals invariably proves decisive.
Even before McNamara flies into Tokyo this week for the 20th edition of the World Athletics Championships, which starts on Saturday, any expectations around the chances of Irish athletes winning medals have already been reduced by the absence of Rhasidat Adeleke and Ciara Mageean. That’s not saying there isn’t still a chance.
Both Adeleke (400m) and Mageean (1,500m) finished fourth in the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Adeleke went on to finish fourth in the Paris Olympics last summer, before her 2025 season was cut short due to injury and loss of form.
For Mageean, who went on to win European gold last summer, Tokyo was already ruled out after post-Olympic surgery, before the shock announcement in July that she had started treatment for cancer.
“In the absence of Rhasidat and Ciara, and Rhasidat being absent from the relays as well, you don’t have the level of expectation in those events necessarily,” says McNamara. “However, it’s perfectly reasonable to expect both relays [women’s and mixed 4x400m] can make the final. Possibly better. On paper, we have stronger teams than we fielded in the past that did make finals.
Paul McNamara: ‘We’re still in a good place, we’re not falling back.’ Photograph: Harry Murphy/ Sportsfile
“Generally, expectations in our sport are much more elevated than they would have been before. You still have athletes with clear intentions of making an impact. Kate O’Connor (heptathlon) and Sarah Healy (1,500m) are an obvious example. Mark English is going in with clear intent as well. The 800m is on fire this year, but he hasn’t put a foot wrong all summer.
“So there are a couple of athletes who will certainly be thinking about medals, but a lot has to go right for that to happen. We’re not seeded to medal, let’s be frank about that. But if we look at top eight, if things go right, and potentially if things go wrong for one or two others, some athletes are going to be in the mix.”
In the previous 19 editions, starting with Eamonn Coghlan’s 5,000m gold at the inaugural World Championships in 1983, only five Irish athletes have won a total of six medals; Sonia O’Sullivan won the last of them on the track 30 years ago, winning the 5,000m in 1995, the last medal of any colour coming 12 years ago when Rob Heffernan won the 50km walk gold in Moscow in 2013.
[ Mark English wins 800m at World Athletics Continental Tour in BeijingOpens in new window ]
Mark English reacts after winning the men’s 800m during the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Beijing 2025. Photograph: Lintao Zhang/ Getty Images
Even in a post-Olympic year, there’ll be no let up in the competition in Tokyo: featuring 2,000 athletes, from 200 countries, Ireland are sending a record-strong team of 28 athletes, with O’Connor, Healy and English already winning indoor championship medals this season.
For McNamara, who took up his role with Athletics Ireland in 2017, there are other measures of success in Tokyo: “In terms of benchmarking where we are now, compared to not that long ago, for Doha 2019, we had eight athletes, three Athletics Ireland staff, plus one individual coach.
“Going to Tokyo, we have 28 athletes, and in terms of our core staff, medical team, and personal coaches who are being supported, approximately 20 staff. That’s just six short years ago, so medal or no medal, that’s still progress.
“And it’s already been such a positive year, so far, it’s hard to complain. We’ve 20 medals on the board, so far in 2025, that’s unprecedented, including five medals the European Under-23s. So everything is going in the right direction.
“So, we’re still in a good place, we’re not falling back. We’ve got multiple athletes who can put in a performance, and there is depth across the board.
“Tokyo also had a very long qualification window, over a year, so athletes have had to manage their programmes differently too. Again, Kate O’Connor has done all that exceptionally well.”
[ Three more added to Ireland’s final squad for World Athletics ChampionshipsOpens in new window ]
Ireland’s Sarah Healy celebrates after winning the women’s 1500m event of the Diamond League athletics meeting at the Olympic stadium in Rome on June 6th. Photograph: Tiziana Fabi / AFP/ via Getty Images
Indeed on paper, O’Connor unquestionably represents the best chance of an Irish medal. In winning the heptathlon gold at the World University Games, she improved her Irish record to 6,487 points, which ranks her fifth best in 2025 – although Olympic champion Nafi Thiam from Belgium and Britain’s World champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson have yet to score this season.
“There is huge scope for improvement, and it’s not beyond the realm of moderate expectation that Kate could produce a massive Irish record,” says McNamara, “and if she does, and one or two of the big guns aren’t on their A game, there’s a massive opportunity there for her.
“So even without our two marquee names, we still have a number of athletes going there to be at the business end of the championships. And that’s a positive thing.”
AloJapan.com