Ciara Mageean will go to next week’s European Indoor Championships in Glasgow as a strong medal contender in the 1500m after a highly impressive victory at the national indoor arena on Saturday, the 26-year-old coasting to the Irish 3000m title in 9:02.57.

Phil Healy and Ciara Mageean starred internationally with good early season form while there was a host of championship best performances at the Irish Life Health U20 & U23 Championships in Athlone over the weekend.

Medals have a habit of distracting attention, bright and shiny as they are, so to get a feel for the current state of Irish athletics after the European Championships in Berlin you have to step back from Thomas Barr’s brilliant bronze and look at the week as a whole.

Alex Wright came close to pulling off Ireland’s second medal of the European Athletics Championships, finishing tenth after leading with six kilometres to go in the men’s 20k walk.

Ireland’s disappointing campaign at the World Athletics Championships drew to a close earlier than planned on Sunday with Alex Wright suffering disqualification in the men’s 20k walk, writes Will Downing in London.

No way of dressing it up, it’s been a poor championships so far for the Irish, meaning tomorrow’s race walks again represent the one remaining chance at a storybook ending.

Less than two weeks out from the World Championships in London, this was always going to be a fact-finding mission for Ciara Mageean, Mark English, Brian Gregan, and Thomas Barr, and though each of them faced a test of differing degrees of difficulty, they all passed with flying colours.

Alex Wright sharpened up his preparations for the European Race Walking Cup by winning the 10k race walk as sprinters stole the show at the Leevale Sports in CIT on Saturday.

Leevale Athletic Club will officially open its new high-performance facility later this summer, and club chairman Donal Murnane is understandably proud of their new training centre.

A runner always thinks they can do better when they run a personal best but there wasn’t much more Sean Hehir could do after his breakthrough performance at the London Marathon last Sunday.

Ciara Neville (Emerald) kept her cool to clinch gold after a poor start in the women’s 60m while Phil Healy (Bandon) secured the European standard for the 400m on a weekend full of back stories and close finishes at the Irish Life Health National Indoor Championships in Abbotstown, Dublin.

After the heroics of Ireland's race walkers - Rob Heffernan, Alex Wright and Brendan Boyce - yesterday, it's the turn of Ireland's competitors in the golf, triathlon and modern pentathlon today.

Sixth — for many it’s a nothing position, not quite close enough to be considered unlucky, though not so far away that a medal was out of sight.

Rob Heffernan has been restored to sixth place after an eventful Men's 50K walk in Rio.

It’s his final shot, and he knows it. Rob Heffernan may have an Olympic bronze medal to his name — at least that’s what the record books say — but he has yet to lay his hands on it.

Day Seven of the Olympic Games produced even more history from an Irish point of view, with the medals table reached finally at the end of the opening week.

Mark English will be the first Irish athlete to take to the track in the Olympic Stadium this afternoon, the 23-year-old getting his campaign under way in the sixth heat of the men’s 800m at 2:55pm Irish time.

Your one-stop guide to all the Olympic action featuring Irish athletes.

Rob Heffernan has claimed that the race-walking events at the Rio Olympics will not be the same given the absence of Russian athletes.

Comedian Alan Shortt and Irish race walker Alex Wright will soon be stepping out to support a cancer charity walk in Cork.

Phil Healy’s epic relay leg for UCC last month may have entered athletics folklore, but her first official attempt at the 400m left no one in doubt of her future potential over the one-lap distance.

China won their first gold medal of their home World Athletics Championships by sweeping a 1-2 finish in the women’s 20k walk in Beijing.

‘I feel good, my training’s gone well, I’m in a good place mentally and physically’

Thomas Barr and Mark English missed out on making their respective finals at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing yesterday.

Thomas Barr produced a time just six-hundredths of a second outside his Irish record, but still bowed out of the men’s 400m hurdles at the semi-final stage at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing.

Robert Heffernan believes he is in with a “fighting chance” of defending his World 50km Race Walk title when he toes the line at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing next week.

Thomas Barr is targeting a final berth in the 400m hurdles at his maiden World Athletics Championships in Beijing at the end of this month.

Mark English has vowed not to allow his disappointing 800m performance at last night’s Cork City Sports meet affect his European U23 championships gold medal bid.

The next few weeks are vital for Rob Heffernan’s season, as he bids to forget recent surgeries and prepare to defend his world championship title in the 50km Walk.

The Irish Sports Council has committed over €1.5m in funding for the International Carding Scheme for 2015. The money will be invested in 75 athletes across 14 sports.

World champion Robert Heffernan returns to competitive action at the IAAF Race Walking Challenge in Dudince today. 

Kelly Proper bagged long-jump gold and her 17th national indoor title at day one of the Glo Health National Indoor Championships.

A great man once described art as “not what you see, but what you make others see”. In other words, art requires an audience to interpret it.

Leevale AC’s men and DSD women proved themselves to be the best in the country when they emerged victorious at the GloHealth National League Final at Tullamore Harriers Stadium yesterday.

Home favourite Rob Heffernan finished fourth in the 3km walk at the Cork City Sports meet tonight, but was pleased to set a new personal best over the distance as he continues his preparations for the European Championships.

Rob Heffernan is nothing if not meticulous, a perfectionist on and off the track.

Thirty-six years old and in the form of his life, Rob Heffernan has very few complaints at present.

Kelly Proper joined Rob Heffernan as Ireland's most decorated indoor champion at today’s Woodies DIY national indoor championships.