A strong Irish team of 16 athletes have been selected for next month's European Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow.
The team will be led by the quartet of Phil Healy (Bandon), Ciara Mageean (UCD), Mark English (UCD), and Thomas Barr (Ferrybank).
Barr says he has parked his controversial exit from the National Indoor Championships 400m final.
The 26-year-old Olympian dropped out of the race after being bumped off course in a collision. Barr says he has learnt a valuable lesson ahead of the European Indoor Championships in two weeks time.
Healy is ranked fourth in the women’s 400m with Mageean and English (1500m and 800m) both ranked fifth on the European Indoor lists.
English, a European indoor silver medallist in 2015, has been in excellent form winning his sixth national indoor title yesterday, while Mageean set a new Irish 1,500m indoor record and won the 3,000m title.
There are senior debuts on the women’s side for Molly Scott (SLOT) and Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn) in the 60m, Sophie Becker (St Joseph’s) in the 400m and Sommer Lecky (Finn Valley) in the high jump.
It’s a step up for the U20 athletes with three members of the women’s world 4x100m silver-medal-winning team running in the 60m, with Ciara Neville (Emerald) also an individual qualifier. World U20 high jump silver medallist Sommer Lecky will compete too.
On the men’s side, Cillin Greene (Galway City Harriers) in the 400m, Sean Tobin (Clonmel) in the 3,000m, Joseph Ojewumi (Tallaght) in the 60m, and Conall Kirk (Annadale Striders) in the 800m make track debuts.
