Erin Friel goes atop European U18 rankings, Fintan Dewhirst makes U23 qualification

Erin Friel rocketed to the top of the European U18 rankings list while Ethan Dewhirst hit the qualification mark for the European U23s.

They were among the Donegal competitors in action on a record-breaking weekend at the IFAM Outdoor meet in Brussels, Belgium.

Letterkenny AC sprinter Friel clocked 54.28 seconds to win the junior women’s 400m.

Friel, who is set to compete at both the European Youth Summer Olympic Festival and European U20s this summer, is now turning heads on the continent.

For Saturday’s time sees her lift to the top of the European 18 rankings. So far in 2025, Friel has now gone faster than Zoe Van Gils of Netherlands (54.33) and Darcy Coslett from Great Britain (54.41). 

Before toeing the line at IFAM, Friel’s 54.42 from March was her previous best.

Over a lap of the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, the Kathryn McDevitt-coached Friel won the junior women’s event from Marie-Lou Warnier from Belgium, who clocked a PB of 56.54 with another Belgian, Guinevere Cruyts, third in 57.41, a season’s best.

Friel was in the same heat as fellow Irish athlete Kate O’Connell, who went to the World Relays recently, and who finished in 57.30, three seconds down on the Letterkenny teen. Friel’s name is surely now on radars closer to home, too.

On Sunday, she followed up with a new 200m PB of 24.34 for second in the junior women.

The Loreto Secondary School has reached the 400m and 200m standards for the EYOF, which takes place in Skopje in late July, and last week she anchored the Ireland U20 4x400m relay team to qualification for the European U20s, being held in Tampere, Finland in early August.

Friel’s wasn’t the only notable time at the IFAM.

In the 400m hurdles, Fintan Dewhirst won his heat in 51.45 seconds, beating the B standard mark of 51.75 for the European U23s, which will be held in Bergen, Norway in July.

The European U18 silver medallist in Jerusalem in 2018, Dewhirst competed in last year’s World U20s.

In another of the 400m hurdles heats, his younger brother, Ethan Dewhirst, was fourth in a race at the same meet when going 53.13. He is already pencilled in for the European U20s.

New Finn Valley AC recruit Conor Kelly landed a new National U20 400m record on Saturday.

Kelly won the junior men’s race in 46.18, taking out Chris O'Donnell's previous record of 46.54 from 2017.

The 17-year-old recently competed in the World Relays in China and is already in fine fettle at the outset of the outdoor season.

His new time is also a Donegal and Finn Valley AC record over 400m, nipping Mark English’s 46.19 from last year.

In the women’s 5,000m, Roisin Flanagan lowered her own Donegal 5000m record to 15:25.51 to finish third.

Finn Valley AC’s Flanagan was behind only Lisa Rooms from Belgium (15:20:05) and Britain’s Izzy Fry (15:20:48) as she took down her previous best of 15:26:32.

Amy Timoney placed fifth in the 100m hurdles, taking out her own Finn Valley AC club mark in a new personal best of 14.36 seconds. 

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In the senior 200m, Castlefin native Hannah Murray - who cut her teeth at Finn Valley AC and is now on scholarship at UCD AC - scorched a new PB of 25.06 seconds. Over 400m, Murray finished in 56.13.

Amy Greene of Finn Valley AC finished the 3000m steeplechase in 10:36.23.