I get the sense there is plenty of anticipation around the Irish team as the 20th edition of the World Athletics Championships start in Tokyo on Saturday. With a total of 28 athletes, made up of 21 individuals and seven more relay panellists, it’s the biggest Irish team we’ve ever sent.
They’re widely spread across 14 events, men and women. There are two strong relay hopes in the mixed 4x400m in Saturday’s opening sessions and the women’s 4x400m the following weekend.
But the World Championships are not about team hopes or expectations. It’s all about the hopes and expectations of each individual athlete. The exceptions, obviously, are the two relays where it is all about the team spirit and performance. Otherwise, it’s all about each individual athlete trying to deliver their best possible performance. That’s the first thing to look out for.
Unfortunately, we’re also missing two of our best athletes. Two years ago in Budapest, Ciara Mageean finished fourth in the 1,500m and Rhasidat Adeleke finished fourth in the 400m. They were our only two individual finalists. Both the mixed and women’s 4x400m also made the final, finishing sixth and eighth respectively.
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Mageean and Adeleke miss out on Tokyo for different reasons and would certainly have been eyeing up a place in the final had they been at their best. We’ve still seen other Irish athletes step up in performances this year, led by Mark English, Sarah Healy and Kate O’Connor, who all won European Indoor medals earlier in the season.
Looking at the global picture, you tend to see that a lot of stars across the events are repeat champions or medal winners. They have developed that consistency over time. In most events in Tokyo, it will be same names that we saw at the Paris Olympics last summer.
The big thing for Irish athletes now is to deliver that best possible performance, to have no regrets. With Irish athletes, often that consistency or progression isn’t there, but we have seen plenty of that this summer already. Now it’s about bringing it into Tokyo, making the most of their chances.
The championships have come very late. I also get the sense that some athletes are just about hanging on to their form. No doubt, we’ll see some off their best.
It brings me back to 1991, when the World Championships were last staged in Tokyo. I had qualified in the 3,000m, having also broken the Irish 1,500m record that summer. In the end, I decided not to go to Tokyo because I just felt exhausted at that stage of the season. I was also returning to Villanova for one more collegiate cross-country season.
[ Mark English wins 800m at World Athletics Continental Tour in BeijingOpens in new window ]
I already had a long NCAA season, the World University Games and had taken in some races on the European circuit. Interestingly, at the time, it was no big deal for me to decide to skip the event. Then I remember watching Tokyo and this young Kenyan, Susan Sirma, won a bronze medal in the 3000m – one of the first Kenyan women to win a global medal. I was thinking ‘damn, I used to beat her’.
That’s what I mean about taking your chances. Some athletes are more adaptable than others and maybe the opportunity will come along – the chance to create a better result than anyone else thought possible.
It may not be entirely realistic to talk about winning a medal, but if you take Kate O’Connor, she’s definitely in the frame. She’ll know herself it’s all about taking it one event at a time in the heptathlon. So much can change over the course of the two days, but she’s built up great momentum this year, collecting the full set of medals from European Indoor bronze, to World Indoor silver, to the World University Games gold.
Her momentum has been the best of any Irish athlete. Everything has gone right and in every competition she improves her score and personal best across multiple events. She just needs to see how competitive she can be, within the top eight, even though she’s ranked top five. There will be at least eight in contention for a medal.
O’Connor probably thinks she needs to break her Irish record again to get anywhere close. You can’t hide away from the fact she’s our greatest medal hope. But at the same time, it’s no more than a 50-50 chance. We’re certainly not banking on it, so we’re just hoping she can surprise us again. If everything goes right for her, and doesn’t go to plan for others, she’ll definitely be in the mix. It’s not impossible.
Healy has also been very consistent, racing 20 times this year between indoors and out. She has won six, finished second in three, third in three and fourth in one. So her consistency is very good. If that doesn’t happen here, then you have to ask why not.
English is a good example of an Irish athlete who has just kept turning up, over and over again, and has now found that consistency and looks like he belongs. He has also figured out a way to finish in the top places.
I expect that Mark will confidently get out of his heat. After that, as he said himself, it depends on the luck of the draw to make the final. He’s ranked 15th, but he’s running the best form of his life and is very tactically astute. If he can judge things perfectly, he can possibly make the final.
Athletics Ireland have put a lot of time, effort and money into the relays over the last few years and the core of both the mixed and women’s 4x400m should still be strong enough to make the final, without the trump card of Adeleke.
For the mixed quartet, you’d expect Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker, plus Jack Raftery and European Under-20 gold medallist Conor Kelly. Kelly is only 18 and has just started at the University of Texas, but he brings a good energy to the team. They need to run their heat as if it’s the final. That is the only way to approach it and they cannot be concerned or distracted by what might come after.
The same goes for every Irish athlete in Tokyo, because when it comes to championship racing, nothing is guaranteed.
