Rhasidat Adeleke named Athlete of the Year, Ciara Mageean takes middle distance award
Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke. Picture: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Rhasidat Adeleke has been named 2024 Athlete of the Year at the 123.ie National Athletics Awards which took place in Santry on Wednesday.
The Tallaght AC athlete didn’t quite get on that Olympic podium in Paris over the summer but it was nonetheless a sensational year for the 22-year-old who continues to set new standards for Irish sprinting.
Adeleke established new Irish records over 60m, 200m and 300m indoors, and over 100m and 400m outdoors. In May, she helped Ireland to bronze medals in the mixed 4x400m at the World Relays.
She claimed silver in both the 400m and women’s 4x400m at the Europeans a month later, along with gold in the mixed 4x400m which only added to the hope and the hype surrounding her going to France.
In the end, Adeleke was just 0.3 away from winning an individual 400m medal at the Olympics, a performance which was followed up by another fourth-place finish with the women’s 4x400m team.
Alongside her on the track for that relay effort were Sophie Becker, Phil Healy and Sharlene Mawdsley and they obliterated the Irish record with their time of 3:19.90 just 0.18 away from a bronze medal.
Adeleke’s season ended with a third-place finish in her debut at the Diamond League final and she also earned the Sprint & Hurdles Athlete of Year Award, ahead of Sharlene Mawdsley, Sarah Lavin, and Israel Olatunde.
Ciara Mageean took the Middle Distance Athlete of the Year award ahead of Cathal Doyle, Mark English, and Sarah Healy.
Mageean opened her season by reducing her own 800m record to 1:58.51 back in May, before going on to be crowned European 1500m champion on an historic night in Rome.
That gold medal performance secured the third European outdoor medal of Mageean’s career, following on from her bronze in Amsterdam in 2016 and the silver in Munich in 2022.
Endurance Athlete of the Year award went to Fionnuala McCormack who again impressed over cross country and the marathon this past 12 months.
The Wicklow woman finished 28th in the Paris Marathon to become the first Irishwoman to compete in five Olympic Games. Others to be nominated in the category included Nick Griggs, Efrem Gidey, and Cormac Dalton.
Field Athlete of the Year award winner, UCD’s Nicola Tuthill, enjoyed an Olympic debut in the hammer which saw the 20-year-old unleash a 69.90m effort in the women’s hammer throw qualification round. It was just over a metre shy of making the final.
The women’s 4x400m Olympic team of Kelly McGrory, Lauren Cadden, Rachel McCann, Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Rhasidat Adeleke, and Sharlene Mawdsley picked up the Team of the Year award on the back of their historic fourth-placed finish in Paris.
That award was arguably the most debated on the night, with the omission of the European gold-medal-winning mixed relay team from the award winners circle again pointing to what has been an exceptional year for Irish athletics.
Gillian O’Sullivan was inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Kerry native began a glittering career in 1994 which would see her represent Ireland at European Championships, World Championships, and an Olympic Games in the 20km Race Walk.
Arguably O’Sullivan’s best performance came in 2003 when she took silver in the 20km walk at the World Championships in Paris, the first time since 1995 that an Irish athlete had won a World Championship medal.
The feat sees O’Sullivan remain part of an exclusive club of only five Irish athletes – Eamonn Coghlan, Sonia O’Sullivan, Olive Loughnane, and Rob Heffernan – who have podiumed at a World Athletics Outdoor Championship.
Hall of Fame: Gillian O’Sullivan; Lifetime Services to Athletics: Peter Hanlon; Athlete of the Year: Rhasidat Adeleke; Endurance Athlete of the Year: Fionnuala McCormack; Under 20 Athlete of the Year: Oisin Joyce; Sprint & Hurdles Athlete of the Year: Rhasidat Adeleke; Middle Distance Athlete of the Year: Ciara Mageean; Field Athlete of the Year: Nicola Tuthill; Team of the Year: Women’s 4x400m; Inspirational Performance on Irish Soil: Cathal Doyle (Morton Mile); Special recognition award: Neil Cusack; Performance Club of the Year: Leevale AC; Services to Coaching Award: Peter McDermott; Official of the Year: Anne McHugh; Development Club of the Year: Glenmore AC; Mountain Runner of the Year: Enda Cloake; Masters Athlete of the Year: John MacDermot; Ultra Runner of the Year: Sorcha Loughnane; Schools’ Athlete of the Year: Cian Crampton; University Athlete of the Year: Pierre Murchan; Member Federation Award: Amanda Hynes; Coaching Awards: Gary Ryan & Kay Bannon
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