Conor Kelly sets new Irish indoor U20 300m record in United States

Conor Kelly set a new Irish U20 indoor 300m record at the weekend in the United States.

The Finn Valley AC athlete clocked 33.93 seconds while competing at the Corky Classic in Texas.

Kelly, the 2025 European U20 400m gold medallist, who is now a student at the University of Texas at Austin, was making his collegiate debut across the Atlantic. He was the second freshman to finish on an encouraging opening weekend of action in 2026.

The Irish senior record for an indoor 300m is the 33.27 seconds ran by Jack Raftery in 2022.

Kelly was also in action in a 4x400m relay with the University of Texas team placing third in 3:06.85. Kelly was joined by Chris Brinkley, Logan Popelka and John Rutledge with Kelly going quickest of the quartet in 46.31.

At the VA Indoor Showcase, another Finn Valley AC athlete Sophia Thompson helped the Union Catholic High School team to a New Jersey record in the distance medley relay at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. Thompson, along with Sydney Chadwick, Abigail Robisky and Paige Sheppard finished in 11:18.75, just shy of the US record of 11:17.50.

In an individual 1000m, Thompson  - whose father Terry hails from Letterkenny - was fifth in 2:49.05.

Read next: Mark English smashes Irish indoor 800m record for impressive win in Luxembourg

Cara Laverty, a Finn Valley AC athlete who is a scholarship student at Providence College, was third in a women’s 1000m at the Harvard Beantown Challenge, going around in 2:47.66, just .07 of a second off second spot.

Nadine McIntyre, a native of Co Fermanagh who has linked up with Finn Valley AC finished a one mile race in 5:24.38 while competing at the Washburn Rust Buster event in Topeka, Kansas.