After years out, Kerry native has sporting gaze fixed firmly on the track

Killarney's Sarah Leahy heads to this weekend's National Indoor Championships as the second fastest Irish woman over 60m this year. 

RAPID: Sarah Leahy is one of the favourites for the 60m title at this weekend's 123.ie National Indoor Championships. The championships take place at the Sport Ireland National Indoor Arena on February 22nd & 23rd. For tickets and further information visit AthleticsIreland.ie. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Just when she thought she was out, they pulled her back in. It was May 2021, and Sarah Leahy’s sprinting career looked like it was a thing of the past. The Killarney athlete hadn’t raced in over two years, letting her spikes gather dust as she focused on Gaelic football and her engineering studies at the University of Limerick.

But then she tuned in to the World Relays from Poland, watching as the Irish women’s 4x200m team finished second and the Irish mixed 4x400m team finished seventh, thereby securing Olympic qualification. Leahy had grown up racing many of those athletes, sometimes beating them.