A team of over 120 athletes will represent Ireland at the European Games in Krakow, Poland. The multi-sport event is run by the European Olympic Committees and will take place from 20 June until 2 July, with 7000 athletes competing from 48 countries over the 12 days of competition.
Irish athletes will be competing across 17 sports, with many of the events part of the Olympic qualification pathway. The European Games play a key role in introducing new sports to the programme, with a view to them potentially becoming events at the Olympic Games.
Here's all you need to know about the female Irish athletes heading to Krakow:
Athletics
Forty-four Irish athletes will compete at the European Games in Krakow. While Athletics has featured on the European Games programme since 2015, this is the first time that it holds European Championship status, with it doubling up as the European Team Championships. The competition takes place in the Silesian Stadium in Chorzow, and runs from the 20th of June until the 26th of June, with the Irish athletes competing on the first three days.
Team Ireland will be competing in Division Three, with the main objective of the team being to gain enough points and strong enough performances to move into Division Two. A full athletics programme of action will be featured during the Games, and this will be the first outing for Athletics Ireland athletes under their new sprint coach, Christian Malcolm.
Athletics Athletes:
Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn) 100m (F), 4 x 100m (F) Relay
Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) 400m (F), Mixed 4 x 400m Relay
Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC/Limerick) 100m H (F), 4 x 100m (F) Relay
Kelly McGrory (Tir Chonall AC) 400m H (F), 4 x 400m (F) Relay
Louise Shanahan (Leevale AC) 800m (F)
Sophie O'Sullivan (Ballymore Cobh AC, Cork) 1500m (F)
Aoibhe Richardson (Kilkenny City Harriers) 5000m (F)
Ava O'Connor (Tullamore Harriers, Offaly) 3000m SC (F)
Ruby Millet (St. Abban’s AC, Co. Laois) Long Jump (F)
Saragh Buggy (St. Abban’s AC, Co. Laois) Triple Jump (F)
Sommer Lecky (Finn Valley AC) High Jump (F)
Ellie McCartney (City of Lisburn A.C., Antrim) Pole Vault (F)
Michaela Walsh (Swinford AC, Mayo) Shot Put (F)
Grace Casey (Clonliffe Harriers, Dublin) Javelin (F)
Niamh Fogarty (Raheny Shamrock AC) Discus Throw (F)
Nicola Tuthill (UCD AC/Cork) Hammer Throw (F)
Adeyemi Talabi (Longford AC) 4 x 100m (F) Relay
Joan Healy (Leevale AC) 4 x 100m (F) Relay
Sarah Leahy (Killarney Valley) 4 x 100m (F) Relay
Mollie O’Reilly (Dundrum South Dublin) 4 x 100m (F) Relay
Roisin Harrison (Emerald AC, Limerick) Mixed 4 x 400m Relay
Boxing
Ireland is one of the highest-ranked countries going into the boxing tournament, and will see twelve boxers contest the European Games this month.
The boxing programme in Krakow spans almost the full competition, running from the 23rd of June to the 2nd of July. While the medals will be decided on the final two days, all eyes will be on the 28th of June and the 30th of June, when the Olympic qualification spots will be decided.
Four Olympic qualification spots are open (winners of Quarter Finals) in the Women's 50kg, 54kg, 57kg, 60kg and 66kg events. Two Olympic qualification spots (winners of Semis) are open in the Women's 75kg event.
Boxers:
Daina Moorehouse (Bray, Co. Wicklow) Women’s 50kg
Paris Scholar, Daina, is emerging in to the Elite ranks following a glittering underage career, which included European Youth & Junior golds. She holds multiple Irish titles. Most recently won silver at the Usti nad Labem Grand Prix, boxing for Team Ireland
Jennifer Lehane (Ashbourne, Co. Meath) Women’s 54kg
Jenny is a teacher who took a career break to focus, full time, on her Olympic dream. Jenny, of Dublin City University BC, is a former Irish Elite champion at 57kg and the 2022 Usti nad Labem Grand Prix gold medalist.
Michaela Walgh (Belfast, Co. Antrim) Women’s 57kg
Michaela is Tokyo Olympian, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and the 2022 European Bronze medalist. A member of Emerald BC, she is the 2023 Usti na Labem champion. She is zero-ing in on becoming a double Olympian.
Kellie Harrington (Dublin) Women’s 60kg
Kellie is the reigning lightweight Olympic Champion and, in the last 12 months, has added a European title, and golds at Strandja and Usti to her impressive list of achievements. Kellie has her sights set on Paris.
Amy Broadhurst (Dundalk, Co. Louth) Women’s 66kg
Amy is a World Champion at 63kg, the reigning lightweight Commonwealth Games champion, and the 2022 European champion at 66kg. This year, she’s focused on her Olympic dream with gold at the 74th Strandja International Tournament.
Aoife O’Rourke (Castlerea, Co. Roscommon) Women’s 75kg
Aoife, who boxes out of Olympic BC, Galway, is a Tokyo Olympian who became a double European medalist in 2022.
Kickboxing
Kickboxing is making its debut on the Olympic stage, and Team Ireland will be represented in ten events by nine world-class athletes.
Kickboxers:
Nicole Bannon (Tallaght) Pointfighting – 60kg, Light Contact – 60kg
Bannon is the only athlete to qualify for two disciplines. She is the WAKO World Bronze Medallist and has been competing since she was 8 years of age.
Jodie Browne (Tallaght) Pointfighting – 70kg
Browne is currently the WAKO Senior World and European Champion and is heading to Krakow as one of the favourites for the title. She combines her sport with college work and studies media and criminology in Maynooth.
Amy Wall (Bray, Co. Wicklow) Full Contact – 60kg
The Bray school-teacher has an impressive sporting resume which includes three WAKO World titles, a WAKO European Silver and Bronze Medal.
Badminton
Team Ireland has enjoyed considerable success in Badminton at the European Games, since the inaugural Games in Baku 2015. The Badminton competition takes place in the Jaskolska Arena in Tarnow, just over 80km from the Krakow centre. It runs from the 26th of June – 2nd of July and the draw will be made live on the Badminton European channels on the 6th of June.
Badminton Athletes:
Rachael Darragh (Donegal) Women’s Singles
Rachel represented has represented Ireland at many international tournamanets, including the Commonwealth Games 2022 (quarterfinalist), Dutch International 2023 (quarterfinalist) and has qualified for the World Championships 2023. She is currently 83rd on the world ranking and 20 on the European ranking.
Moya Ryan (Clare) Women’s Doubles, Mixed Doubles
Moya was a quarterfinalist at the Dutch International 2023 and also qualified for the World Championships 2023. She is ranked 57 on the world ranking and 12 on the European ranking.
Kate Frost (Dublin) Women’s Doubles
Kate is Moya's Doubles partner and shares Moya's list of achievements.
Triathlon
Tokyo Olympian Carolyn Hayes as well as Erin McConnell will compete in the Women’s Individual event, with in-form James Edgar and Luke McCarron competing in the Men’s Individual race. Ireland will also compete in the Mixed Relay for the first time.
The event will run from the 20th of June to the 2nd of July in the Nowa Huta Lake and its surroundings in Krakow City. All athletes will compete in the individual races on the 27th and 28th of June, before the Mixed Relay competition on the 1st of July.
Triathlon Athletes:
Carolyn Hayes (Newcastlewest, Limerick) Women’s Individual, Mixed Relay
Carolyn is a Tokyo 2020 Olympian and with 11 national titles to her name, the most successful female triathlete of her generation. After many years as an amatuer, Hayes's decision to focus on triathlon full-time once her medical degree was completed paid off quickly, with a series of standout performances on her way to Tokyo 2020. This included a second place finish behind Olympic champion Nicola Spirig at the Lisbon World Cup shortly before the Games.
Erin McConnell (Derry, Co. Derry) Women’s Individual, Mixed Relay
A Europe Triathlon Aquathlon (swim-run) bronze medalist from Walchsee in 2021, the European Games will be the biggest competition of McConnell's career to date. Still an U23 athlete, McConnell has made considerable progress over the past year with a second place- and a top five finish at Continental Cup level. She delivered a strong performance in Mixed Team Relay event at the 2022 World Student Games in Brazil.
Canoeing
Eight Canoe Slalom athletes and one Canoe Sprint athletes will represent Ireland. Jenny Egan is the sole competitor to race in the Canoe Sprint, which runs from 22 – 24 June, while six male and two female athletes will contest the Canoe Slalom event from 29 June – 2 July. The events double up as European Championships for the Canoeists, with both titles and Olympic qualifying spots available.
Egan is going into the European Games as ranked world number one in the 5000m event, an event that is not on the programme in Krakow. The Lucan racer will be competing in the K1 200m and K1 500m events, both of which are on the Olympic programme, and offer opportunities for nations to qualify for quota spots. The Canoe Sprint takes place in Kryspinow Waterway in Krakow, not far from the Canoe Slalom course.
Canoeing Athletes:
Jenny Egan (Lucan, Dublin) Women’s K1 200/500
Egan is going into the European Games as ranked world number one in the 5000m event, an event that is not on the programme in Krakow. This endurance talent will hopefully stand to Jenny competing in the 500m at the European Games, to take the fight to the field in the last 250m.
Madison Corcoran (Dublin/Washington, USA) Women’s K1 Canoe Slalom
Madison is another of our dual career athletes currently in third level education. Madison is preparing to move over to London for a year of study, to be better able to train using the world class venue in Lee Valley.
Michaela Corcoran (Dublin/Washington, USA) Women’s C1 Canoe Slalom
Twin daughter of two-time Olympian Mike Corcoran (‘92 and’96) Michaela is one of the youngest athletes on the team. Which has done nothing to diminish her ability, already having made several senior international semi-finals.
Diving
This is the first time that aquatics will be included in the European Games programme and offers direct Olympic qualification for the divers in each category, with the gold medallist in the 3m Springboard and the 10m Platform qualifying a spot in Paris 2024.
Competition in diving occurs between the 23 – 28 June.
Divers:
Ciara McGing (Mayo/London) Women’s 10m Platform
The 22 year old was born in London, and studies in Ohio State University. Her Irish citizenship comes via her grandparents who are from Toormakeady, Co. Mayo, and her other grandmother from Rathmullan in Donegal. Ciara's main event is the Platform (10m) and she is currently the Irish Senior Platform record holder. She was a European Championships Finalist 2022, went to the 2023 NCAA Division 1 Championships, 2019 FINA Grand Prixes, 2019 European Championships, 2018 and 2019 European Juniors.
Clare Cryan (Sligo/Roscommon/Sheffield) Women’s 1m, 3m Springboard, Mixed Synchronised 3m Springboard
The 29 year old was born in Sheffield, and competes for the City of Sheffield Diving Club. Her grandparents are from Sligo/Roscommon.Clare's main event is the 3m Springboard, and she also competes in the 1m Springboard and Mixed Synchronised 3m Springboard. She is currently the Irish Senior Record Holder for the 1M and 3M Springboard. Some of her notable achievements include: 2023 British Diving Championships Silver Medallist 3M; 2022 European Championships Finalist: 1M and 3M; 2022 World Championships; 2019 World Championships: Finalist (1M); 2019 FINA Diving Grand Prix Bronze Medal (3M Mixed Synchro); 2019 European Championships 1M Finalist; 2018 FINA Diving Grand Prix: Silver Medal (3M Springboard).
Shooting
Two Team Ireland shooters will be in action, contesting the Clay Target events. Aoife Gormally will be competing in her second European Games in Trap Women, while Jack Fairclough will be making his European Games debut in the Skeet Men. The venue for the Games is the Wroclaw Shooting Centre, in Wroclaw, which is 270km from Krakow City.
Shooting will be the longest running sport on the European Games programme, with Irish competition focused on the 24 – 25 June (Fairclough), and the 29 – 30 June (Gormally).
Shooters:
Aoife Gormally (Ashbourne, Co. Meath) Trap Women’s
Aoife is from Ashbourne, Co. Meath. By profession, a Site Supervisor in the construction industry. The 32 year olds main event is the Trap. She has been competing at Continental and World level since 2015, with best Continental result of 7th place in the European Championships 2021 and best World result, Finalist, 5th place in the ISSF World Cup, Cyprus, 2020. She also competed at the European Games 2019. She is currently placed 23rd on the world ranking and 27th on the 2024 Olympic Games Ranking List.
Archery
Team Ireland will be represented in Archery at the European Games in Krakow by Emma Davis and Oskar Ronan.
Archery made its Olympic debut at the Games in Paris in 1900 but dropped off the programme until 1972. Since then, four Irish athletes have competed in the Games, including 1996 Olympian, Keith Hanlon, who is the team manager for the Irish team in Krakow.
Archery is one of the most accessible sports on the Olympic programme, and in Krakow 2023 it offers direct passes to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Ronan and Davis compete in the Recurve events, the recurve bow is one of the main shapes a bow can take in archery, with limbs that curve away from the archer when unstrung. This allows for a higher draw in strength from the archer.
In the Recurve competition, the athletes shoot over distances of 70 metres at a target face measuring 122cm in diameter, with a 10-ring measuring 12.2 cm in diameter. The qualification phase consists of 72 arrows, after which archers are ranked by their total score to determine the seeds for matchplay. The eliminations phase consists of head-to-head brackets in which the winner of each match advances and the loser is eliminated.
Archers:
Emma Davis (Keady, Co. Armagh) Women’s Recurve Individual
Born in Surrey, but with roots in Keady, Co. Armagh, Emma took up archery whilst at University in Warwick and has been competing for Ireland at a European and World level since 2021.
The 31-year-old has been shooting for almost 12 years and balances training and competition alongside working as a university lecturer.
Padel
Padel is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world and this summer, four Team Ireland athletes will be competing in this exciting sport at the European Games. Irish athletes will contest the Men’s Doubles and Women’s Doubles in Krakow City, with the semi-finals and finals taking place in the iconic Main Square. Ireland is one of 23 nations competing in the competition which runs from the 21 – 25 June.
Padel combines elements of tennis and squash and was invented by a Mexican man in 1969. The sport continued to grow in South America, before moving to Spain in the 1970s. It is now one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, in Spain it is the second most popular sport after soccer. The scoring for Padel is similar to that of Tennis.
Padel Athletes:
Jennifer Claffey (Dublin) Women’s Doubles
From Dublin, Jennifer is a total sports enthusiast and loves all things competition. With a background in Tennis, Rugby 7s and Premier level football, Jennifer is embracing the challenge of participating in Padel at an International level. Jennifer has been involved in sports since she was 4 years old and is an ex-professional tennis player having played on the international tennis circuit and represented Ireland in the Federation Cup a number of times.
Susan Mc Rann (Dublin) Women’s Doubles
Susan, from Dublin, comes from a tennis background, competing on the Irish and International circuits from a young age before representing Ireland at the tri-nations and four-nations events. Susan played US collegiate tennis at the University of Arizona and in recent years has adapted her tennis game to suit the padel court. Susan has recently taken the Irish Padel Tour, the official Irish Circuit by storm, winning the Women’s Open in the Bushy Park leg of the tour.
Modern Pentathlon
Team Ireland will be sending three female athletes to the European Games, with Galway’s Sive Brassil being the key contender from the team, as she targets qualification for her first Olympic Games. Allocations will be decided on the 1st of July, in the finals of the competitions. Isobel Radford-Dodd and Hanna D’Aughton will also be competing in the competition, at what will be their first major Games.
Modern Pentathlon was one of the original sports on the Modern Olympic Games programme, and one in which founder of the Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertain competed. Based on simulating the experience of a 19th Century soldier, the event tracks the athletes as they compete in fencing, swimming, shooting, running and riding a ‘strange’ horse. Following controversy at the Tokyo Olympic Games, there has been considerable discussion about removing the round with the horse from the programme, it will remain in for the Paris Olympic Games.
Modern Pentathletes:
Sive Brassil (Ballinasloe, Co. Galway) Women’s Modern Pentathlon
From Ballinasloe, in Co. Galway, Sive Brassil is Ireland’s most senior pentathlete. The 29-year-old began competing in the sport in her early teens and has qualified for multiple World and European Championships Finals. Currently ranked 49th in UIPM’s Women’s World Rankings, her best result in a European Championships came just last year when she finished 8th. Sive is also a Dare to Believe Ambassador for the OFI Olympic Schools Programme that is sponsored by Permanent TSB.
Hanna D’Aughton (Cork) Women’s Modern Pentathlon
From Cork, 21-year-old Hanna D’Aughton made her senior UIPM Pentathlon World Cup debut last April, just four years after taking up the sport, and has continued her development over the past 12 months. A strong swimmer, she teamed up with Isobel Radford-Dodd for a fourth-place finish in the Team Relay at the 2022 European Junior Championships last June in Barcelona.
Isobel Radford-Dodd (Greystones, Co. Wicklow) Women’s Modern Pentathlon
Having turned 21 just last week, Greystones, Co. Wicklow native Isobel Radford-Dodd made her senior UIPM World Championships debut in Budapest last summer as part of a three-pronged Irish team alongside Brassil and D’Aughton. A formidable fencer who began her pentathlon journey in 2014, Radford-Dodd gained further experience competing in the UIPM Pentathlon World Cup Cairo in March this year.
