Eimear Maher and Anika Thompson bag bronze medals at European U23 Championships
Maher delivered a tactical masterclass to run the race of her life and claim a medal in her first track championship for Ireland.
The 21-year-old stuck to the back of the pack before taking closer order with two laps to go.
Maher got an inside run on the final straight, battling to hold off British athlete Mena Scatchard to cross the line in 4:09.54.
Before coming to these championships Maher set a personal best by more than four seconds at the Morton Games in Santry of 4:08.67.
"I'm lost for words right now, I can't even I'm still processing it all," she said afterwards.
"I knew after Morton that I was in the shape of my life, and then I just had to keep it good and do what I did.
"I was vomiting before the heats I was so nervous, this was my first track champs… I worked for this, I wanted this, and I think I tried to enjoy it a lot more today, but it was easier because I had done it before."
The race was won by Turkey's Dilek Kocak in 4:08.79; Adele Gay of France took silver.
An overwhelmed Eimear Maher reacts to her bronze in the women's 1500m at the European Athletics U23 Championships. 🇮🇪 #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/nnjti2NXEx
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 20, 2025
Just 30 minutes later, Irish flags were waving again when 10,000m champion Anika Thompson made a return to the track, this time in the 5,000m where she also took bronze.
In what was a tight turnaround from her 10,000m glory on Friday evening, a determined Thompson hit the front early, leading until 800m to go, where she hung on for two gritty laps to cross the line in 15:56.80.
Thompson explained she was still feeling the effects of the 24-lap race on Friday evening.
"I'm really quite tired, but I'm actually really happy," she said.
"I love having a race where I can give it my all and that was one of the hardest ones I have run, and I just love to leave it out there on the track.
"It's the joy I have of the sport of running, whether I win or lose, the greatest thing is that I'm healthy and I get to do this, I have a big smile on my face.
"My goal today was of course to get the double gold, but If I go for gold and I might end up with a bronze, so always go for the win and see where you end up after that."
In the final event of the championships, the men's 4x400m squad of Andrew Egan, Callum Baird, Joe Doody and David Mannion finished an impressive fifth place in a new national Under-23 record of 3:06.31.
The team qualified as one of the fastest non-automatic places in the morning session and held off fast-finishing Italy and Romania to take fifth in the final.
The race was won by Spain in a new championship record of 3:02.02.
In the women's discus, major championships debutant Anna Gavigan placed eighth with a best throw of 51.16m. Gavigan had a consistent series to qualify for today's final and was rewarded with a top-eight finish in her first major championships.
In the morning session, the men's 4x100m squad of Max O'Reilly, Craig Duffy, Darragh Murphy and Emmanuel Akinrole finished fifth in heat two. This is the second fastest time ever by an Under-23 Irish squad with a 39.83 clocking. Sean Agiboboh was absent from the squad after pulling out from the semi-final of the men's 100m for medical reasons.
The women's 4x400m squad of Kate O'Connell, Victoria Amiadamen and Jenna Breen broke the national Under-23 record, taking 0.06 seconds off the time set in 2017, crossing the line in 3:34.81.
It rounds off the most successful Under-23 European championship ever for Ireland with five medals over the four days and a 14th-place finish on the medal table.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Journal
an hour ago
- The Journal
Padraig Harrington wins Senior Open
LAST UPDATE | 34 mins ago The 42 PADRAIG HARRINGTON HAS won the Senior Open by three stokes after a final day round of 67 at Sunningdale Old Course in Berkshire. The 53-year-old won the US Senior Open for the second time last month and has been a runner-up at the Senior Open in 2022 and 2023. Harrington finished on 16-under overall this weekend, three clear of Denmark's Thomas Bjorn and the American Justin Leonard on 13-under. Advertisement The Dubliner's 67 today followed rounds of 65 yesterday, 65 on Friday and 67 on Thursday. Final leaderboard More to follow . . . Written by The 42 and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won't find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women's sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here .
RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Jack Conan: 'Poignant' Katie Taylor message inspired Lions win
Jack Conan has revealed how a message from Katie Taylor helped inspire the British and Irish Lions as they wrapped up their series with a game to spare against the Wallabies. The Lions staged an epic comeback to defeat Australia on Saturday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, coming from 18 points down to win 29-26 after Hugo Keenan's try with the final play of the game. Ahead of the Test, scrum coach John Fogarty spoke about the inspirational presentation from former Lions captain Martin Johnson, who handed out the game jerseys. And Conan says they were also given a motivational message from one of Ireland's greatest ever sportspeople. "We had a video from Katie Taylor earlier in the week and it was unbelievably poignant and powerful," he said. "It spoke about being prepared to win with skill, but be ready to win by will. I think that was something that summed up today massively because we were not at our best at all." From one Bray native to another, that message from the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, and current undisputed world lightweight champion struck a chord with Conan in particular. "Someone to come from the town I'm from, I'm incredibly proud of where I come from and I know Katie is as well. "She's gone on to achieve incredible feats in the boxing world. "And to be such a superstar and be just incredibly humble and driven and knock it out of herself is something that we kind of leant on as well, because we knew that Australia are a hugely proud nation and they showed it today in spades. "Lads absolutely loved it, and it meant a lot to me being from the same place and seeing her on the world stage, but I think everyone loved it, even the English and the Scottish boys and the Welsh boy, it resonated with everyone. "It was unbelievably poignant, it was class. It really hit home for us, it was brilliant." Conan had the best seat in the house for the winning try from Keenan, outside the full-back's left shoulder when he got the ball from scrum-half Jamison Gibson-Park. On Saturday night, Andy Farrell admitted he was calling for Keenan to pass the ball to his team-mate and take advantage of the mismatch, with Conan standing out opposite wing Max Jorgensen. And the number 8, who could have scored the opening try of the game but for a ball-and-all tackle from James Slipper, joked that he was robbed of a career highlight by his Leinster team-mate. "I was delighted for him, now in saying that, I would have liked it more if he gave me the ball on the edge and I scored the try. "No, delighted for Barry [Keenan's nickname]. I probably would have dropped it like the other one... no, it was knocked out of my hands. "He [Keenan] had a bit of a rocky start to the campaign with the sickness that derailed him for a while and it's a testament to his professionalism and staying in it. "I was shouting for it, but Barry goes and scores a try so I've no complaints. If he bottled it there in that moment I would have killed him and kicked the arse off him afterwards, but that was great." Conan, who turns 34 on Tuesday, had an all-action evening at the MCG, with a combined 31 carries and tackles, the most of any Lions player in any Test across the last five tours. The team struggled badly at times in the first half, with Conan attributing some of that to Thursday's training session, where he said the team were "pretty shocking". The inconsistency of both sides made for an epic contest for the neutral, and Conan says clinching the series in such a way makes the victory even sweeter. "As a Leinster man you're normally on the other end of it where you don't win them so it was nice to be on the other side of it for once. "We were not at our best by any measure, but physically the lads dug in unbelievably well. "I think the celebrations and the craic and changing room, if we went out and we won by 20, it wouldn't be the same. "Everyone's just over the moon. To be part of a Lions winning series team is just incredibly special. I feel incredibly humbled and honoured to be part of it all. "Something that will go down in history, they won't be writing the history books about how s**t we were, but they'll say that we won and that's all that matters. "You can't take these things away from people and go down in history. I know people don't have the best things to say about Australia but I thought they were class today, they played above themselves. "We saw Valetini, big Willie Skelton and come back into the side. They were unbelievable, they made a huge difference and we struggled with it at times, a little bit high in the contacts, a little bit soaking, whatever else but it doesn't matter, we got there in the end didn't we?" As for the celebrations, they will roll into the start of the week. The team were given Sunday off as usual, while they have also been allowed some extra time to 'rest and recover' on Monday, before hitting the ground on Tuesday, looking to seal the clean sweep in Sydney. "Yeah it's class, just the feeling afterwards, the celebrations, 'Big Tadge' [Tadhg] Furlong was giving it 90 on the sideline which was class and it was just unreal. "Part of a Lions winning series is just so special, to have played two 80 minutes, I'm not sure if I'll be playing next week after my performance but we'll see what happens. "It's great doing the lap afterwards and seeing so many familiar faces like all the lads' partners, family, everything like that is class. And then seeing my wife and then all my mates, my twin sister's here as well with her husband and they've been digging in with the baby duties as well which has been great. "So you couldn't wish for anything more compared to four years ago when there wasn't a sinner in the stadium, getting a proper rattle out of it now is just unreal."
Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Lions star reveals 'poignant and powerful' video from Irish icon inspired team
Ireland ace Jack Conan has revealed that an inspiring video from boxing great Katie Taylor helped the British and Irish Lions find the resilience needed to close out their series against Australia. Taylor, an Olympic gold medal winner and current undisputed world super lightweight champion, sent the good luck message to Andy Farrell's squad in the build-up to Saturday's second Test at Melbourne Cricket Club. The 39-year-old's words on the ability to dig deep turned out to be prophetic as the Lions emerged 29-26 winners after fighting back from an 18-point deficit. 'The video was unbelievably poignant and powerful. It spoke about being prepared to win with skill, but also being ready to win by will,' said Ireland number eight Conan, who like Taylor hails from Bray in County Wicklow. 'That was something that was massively summed up in the game because we were not at our best at all. 'It's huge because she comes from the town I'm from. I'm incredibly proud of where I come from and I know Katie is as well. 'She's gone on to achieve incredible feats in the boxing world. To be such a superstar, incredibly humble and driven is something that we leant on as well because we knew that Australia are a hugely proud nation and they showed it in spades. 'Everyone loved it, even the English and the Scottish boys and the Welsh boy – it resonated with everyone. It was unbelievably poignant, it was class. It really hit home for us.' Katie Taylor celebrates after defeating Amanda Serrano (Image:for Netfli) It took a beautifully-taken try by Hugo Keenan with 51 seconds remaining to separate the rivals in one of the greatest Lions matches ever played. Remarkably, Keenan's touchdown was the first time they led in the match. Conan admits that victory tastes all the sweeter for having been taken to the wire as Australia raised their game to a whole new level a week after starting the series with a whimper in Brisbane. 'We were not at our best by any measure, but physically the lads dug in unbelievably well,' he said. 'It was disappointing how we played, but we played for 80 minutes. Hugo getting over the line in the last minute was just unbelievable. 'It wasn't my best game. A lot of us weren't at the races at all, but we stuck in there. You can't fault the effort. I thought the defensive sets we put in, just whacking people and just staying in there, was unbelievable. 'It's something that will go down in history. They won't be writing the history books about how s*** we were, but they'll say that we won and that's all that matters. 'Everyone's over the moon. To be part of a Lions winning series team is incredibly special. The celebrations in the changing room wouldn't have been the same if we'd won by 20.'
