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05 Sept 2025
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05 Sept 2025
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Ciara Kearns celebrates her gold medal and (inset) Sinead McConnell won bronze
Ciara Kearns became Donegal’s latest European gold medalist in Braga on Monday evening.
The Finn Valley AC ace won the W35 long jump at the European Masters Athletics Championships, while her club-mate Sinead McConnell landed a bronze in the W50 3k race walk.
Kearns leapt out to a best of 5.39m, that coming in her first jump.
The Carrick woman beat off Magolna Kresz from Hungary (5.18m) and Germany’s Aurica Zucht (5.17m) to land the gold.
She was literally a hair’s breadth from bettering that jump. A 5.31m effort in the fourth round might’ve been even further, but her hair touched the sand to prevent a better reading.
Last month, Kearns took gold in Athlone in the W35 long jump at the National Masters when she jumped 5.20m.
In 2001, Kearns represented Ireland at the 2001 World Youth Championships in Debrecen.
Earlier in the evening, McConnell took a gutsy bronze in the W50 3k race walk.
The Castlefin woman edged out Italian Anna Savarese for a hard-earned place on the podium.
McConnell finished in 16:05.81 with French duo Boban Valérie and Violaine Bray taking gold and silver.
Sinead McConnell won bronze in Braga.
McConnell and Savarese were neck-and-neck for the most part, but the Finn Valley woman dug deep to win with around nine seconds to spare.
At the 2018 World Masters in Málaga, Spain, Sinead McConnell won two bronze medals, in the 5k walk and 10k walk, having won team silver over 5k at the 2018 European Championships in Madrid.
Last month, McConnell won the 3000m walk at the National Masters Indoor Championships.
That follows the individual silver and team cross country gold medals won by Finn Valley AC’s Noreen Bonner on Sunday.
In all, there are nine Donegal athletes in action this week in Braga.
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