Championship Record for O Connor and more

02 March 2026

The 2026 National Indoor Championships were held over the weekend in the National Indoor Arena in Abbottstown and produced the biggest medal haul for our local athletes in the events history with three golds five silvers and three bronze medals.

World silver medallist Kate O’Connor (Dundalk St Gerards AC) opened her 2026 season with a big PB in the 60m hurdles to finish second place in 8.21 after former World Indoor finalist Sarah Lavin. Anna McAuley (City of Lisburn AC) also bettered her PB while finishing fourth in 8.48. They both returned to the arena on Sunday for the long jump with Kate producing another lifetime best of 6.50 which also bettered the Championship record. Anna jumped 6.05m to finish third.

Sommer Leckey (Finn Valley AC) cleared 1.75m in the women’s high jump to finish second, just losing out on the win on count back. In the men’s shot, John Kelly (Finn Valley AC) also won a silver medal throwing 18.19m

In the women’s 400m final, Jenna Breen (City of Lisburn AC) held on well to finish third in 54.39.

The endurance events provided some of the closest finishes that the championships have ever seen. In the women’s 3000m, Zoe Toland (CNDR TC) was in a three-way battle down the home straight and managed to hold on for the silver medal in 9.22.59, just losing out on the win by a tenth of a second. The men’s 3000m was billed as the race of the championships with a place guaranteed on the team for the World Indoor Championships for the winner. Nick Griggs (CNDR TC) ran a superb tactical race to finish just ahead of former champion Darragh McElhinney in 8.14.52. Callum Morgan (CNDR TC) finished third in 8.16.30, making it the third time in a row that he has made the podium in the 3000m.

In the women’s 1500m, Niamh Carr (Dublin City Harriers) finished strongly to snatch second place in 4.32.39. Lughaidh Mallon (UCD) who won bronze in 2024 and silver in 2025 in the men’s 1500m went one better this year to take the win from Olympian and prerace favourite Luke McCann in 3.43.45. There was six one hundredths of a second separating the two athletes with Lughaidh just edging ahead in the final two metres.

Over in the States, Lauren Roy (Fast Twitch AC) continued her run of good form at her Conference Championships winning the 200m in a facility record of 22.94 and winning her heat in the 60m in a PB of 7.19 which was within the qualifying standard for the World indoor Championships.

On the roads, Emily Haggard Kearney (North Belfast Harriers) finished second in a very high class field at the Trafford 10k on Sunday in 32.01, which is a new NI record and a massive forty five seconds off her previous best.