World Indoors on horizon for Galway's Emma Moore in breakthrough season
In January, Emma Moore twice broke the Irish U-23 indoor 800m record, clocking 2:02.34 and 2:01.21. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
As she stood on the line alongside a slew of Olympians in Ostrava, Czechia earlier this month, Emma Moore was calm, composed. It was her debut at World Indoor Tour Gold level, but there was no inferiority complex for the 21-year-old Galway native.
“I felt like this is the level I’m at now, where I should be,” she says.
It’s been a breakthrough season. In January Moore twice broke the Irish U-23 indoor 800m record, clocking 2:02.34 and 2:01.21. The latter puts her 32nd on the qualifying list for next month’s World Indoors in Poland, with 30 spots available. Given some of those ahead of her won’t take their place, a first senior Irish vest is within reach.
Moore will be the favourite to take gold over 800m at this weekend’s nationals in Abbotstown, where she’ll return next week for one last crack at a fast time before the world indoor qualification window closes next Sunday. But whether she gets to Poland or not, she’s come an awfully long way in recent years. “It seems like it’s all falling into place,” she says.
But there was plenty of heartbreak preceding this. Moore was flagged as a huge talent in her juvenile career but her first serious injury in her mid-teens meant she “lost the love” for the sport. In fifth year at school, she found her way back, clocking 2:10 for 800m. After that she began working with Joe Ryan, who guided Cian McPhillips to the Irish 800m record and world final last year.
But in her first year at DCU, she was running here, there and everywhere as she juggled increased training with her degree in PE and Biology. She wasn’t aware just how much fuel her body needed to keep up with that – until it broke down.
She was diagnosed with REDs (relative energy deficiency in sport), her under-fuelling not so much a conscious choice as due to a lack of awareness. The first she heard of the syndrome was when her doctor told her about it. “Which is a bit mad,” she says. “I’ve been in the sport since I was six. It is definitely a taboo subject. It definitely needs to be talked about more.”Â
It’s heavily linked with a reduction in bone density and when she got back training, Moore got a stress reaction in her femur, which dragged on for nine months and ruled her out for all of 2024. “I never wanted to quit when I was at the bottom. It wasn't really an option for me to just lie around, feeling sorry for myself. I knew I always had the talent to get to this level.”Â
Ryan, who’s now director of athletics at DCU, was a rock to lean on through those choppy waters, tailoring bike workouts as Moore faced a prolonged spell on the sidelines. Her parents were also crucial in keeping her spirits up. She began working with Martina McCarthy and Claire Brady at the Sport Ireland Institute, who’ve played a key role in strengthening her body to cope with high-level training.
“I have a really solid team that I trust with my life. The people who stuck by my side at the time were kind of the reason why I'm still here. So it's a credit to them, as well as myself, I suppose, for staying at it.”Â
After taking a conservative approach in training last year, Moore hacked her 800m PB down to 2:03.54, earning a spot at the European U-23s. She put down a “huge winter block” in recent months so when she clocked 2:01 last month, it wasn’t a big surprise.
“I definitely did think that was up my sleeve. I was elated that I put it together. Because that’s what I lacked over the years – having huge sessions and not being able to put it together on the day.”Â
Her approach to nutrition is different these days, the lessons assimilated from past mistakes. “It’s taken me a good two to three years to really figure out what I actually need to do to fuel myself and fuel for performance.”Â
What advice would she give other developing athletes on that topic? “Everyone is individual. I think we really underestimate how much we actually need to fuel our bodies. Social media is a highlight reel of people’s lives and we look at athletes; they’re the leanest version of themselves, but that’s not always the best.”Â
The undoubted pick of the weekend’s action as Andrew Coscoran, Nick Griggs and Darragh McElhinney face off for spots at next month’s World Indoors in Poland. Coscoran and Griggs both have the automatic standard, while McElhinney is also eligible, sitting comfortably within the top-30 cutoff on the top lists. But only two athletes can go. There’s a lot more than a national title on the line.
Five months on from her silver medal heroics in Tokyo, Kate O’Connor returns to the competitive arena, with the hurdles today and long jump tomorrow. Sarah Lavin should prove untouchable in the former as she seeks her eighth national indoor title, her 19th overall.
Sunday All eyes will be on Bori Akinola in tomorrow’s men’s 60m final as the UCD athlete aims to make it back-to-back titles and possibly his recent Irish record of 6.54. Just watch him fly.
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