Former US prodigy Mary Cain switches allegiance to Ireland

Mary Cain, Alexi Pappas and Rich Roll compete in the celebrity race at the 34th Annual Malibu Triathlon.

USA’s former world U-20 champion Mary Cain has completed a transfer of allegiance and is now eligible to represent Ireland internationally.

Cain, who was deemed the most gifted distance-running prodigy of her generation, grew up in New York but has an Irish grandparent. At the age of 17, she represented the US at the World Championships in Moscow over 1500m and the following year, she won the world U-20 3000m title.

However, her career went downhill as a senior, with Cain saying she suffered years of emotional abuse at the hands of Alberto Salazar, the disgraced coach at the Nike Oregon Project who was given a four-year ban for doping violations in 2019 and later banned for life by the US Centre for Safe Sport following allegations of sexual misconduct.

Cain filed a $20m lawsuit against Salazar and Nike in 2021 for long-term injuries she suffered as well as an eating disorder, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress. In 2019 she told the New York Times she was “emotionally and physically abused by a system designed by Alberto and endorsed by Nike.” The case was settled for an undisclosed sum last November.

The 27-year-old has not registered a result in athletics since 2020, when she clocked 9:07.51 for 3000m in Boston, and it’s unclear if she intends to make a comeback, having struggled with injuries in the years since. In 2022 she made a switch to triathlon, but has not competed in that sport since then.

In recent years Cain also moved into business, founding the Atalanta NYC, a nonprofit that employed professional female runners to mentor young girls in the community, with Irish international Aoibhe Richardson among its members. Richardson relocated to Oregon late last year and after leaving New York, she paid tribute to Cain’s work: “I know you will continue to change the game for the next generation of female athletes.” Cain’s World Athletics biography states that she is eligible to represent Ireland from 16 February.