Kelly McGrory and Sommer Lecky to compete at European Games

Kelly McGrory and Sommer Lecky have been named on the Ireland team for the European Games.

Tir Chonaill AC's McGrory and Lecky of Finn Valley AC are on the athletics team that will compete in the Silesian Stadium in Chorzow next week.

Team Ireland will be competing in Division Three, with the main objective of gaining promotion to Division Two.

A full athletics programme of action will be featured during the Games, and this will be the first outing for Athletics Ireland athletes under their new sprint coach, Christian Malcolm.

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McGrory will go in the 400m hurdles and the women's 4x4000m relay while Lecky will take part in the high jump.

Last month, McGrory set a new Donegal 400m record. At the Mary Peters Track, McGrory clocked 54.21 seconds.
Last July, McGrory first broke the Donegal 400m record when claiming Christine Lynch’s mark that stood for 39 years. Then, at the Morton Games, McGrory went 54.68 seconds, to erase Lynch’s 55.72 seconds from the top of the record book.
Lecky is back in action after a period out with an injury and the Commonwealth Youth gold and European Under-20 silver medallist is keen to get back on the mat again.

While Athletics has featured on the European Games programme since 2015, this is the first time that it holds European Championship status, with it doubling up as the European Team Championships.

Paul McNamara, Athletics Ireland Director of High Performance, said: “The European Team Championships is an outstanding event with a novel team format that differentiates it from other major championships.

“It is akin to the European Cross Country Championships in that it provides a gauge of our standing in European Athletics.

“The format gives an opportunity to emerging athletes to compete alongside many of our very best, and all compete with the overall aim of team success.

“We find ourselves in Division 3 as a result of having skipped this event in 2021, due to Covid restrictions, and we have the sole aim of earning automatic promotion.”

Meanwhile, at the Paavo Nurmi Games, Tuesday’s Continental Tour Gold meet in Finland on Tuesday evening, Finn Valley AC's Mark English finished 10th in 1:50.29 in the men's 800m.

The race was won by Benjamin Robert of France (1:44.40) with English seeming off-form.