World silver medallist Kate O’Connor was crowned Irish Athlete of the Year at a prestigious ceremony in Dublin on Wednesday (26).
The 2025 season has been exceptional for the multi-event star, who claimed heptathlon silver at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, heptathlon gold at the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, pentathlon bronze at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships, and pentathlon silver at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
O’Connor also broke her own national heptathlon and pentathlon records twice during the year, finishing the season as Europe’s top-ranked athlete and world No.2. She additionally collected the Field and Multi-Event Athlete of the Year award on a night of celebration for Irish athletics.
McCormack's enduring quality recognised
Evergreen 41-year-old Fionnuala McCormack was named Endurance Athlete of the Year after a season highlighted by a top-ten finish in the marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo and a personal best of 2:23:46 in Valencia — just 23 seconds shy of the Irish record.
Conor Kelly, the 400m champion at the Tampere 2025 European Athletics U20 Championships, was named U20 Athlete of the Year, while Nicola Tuthill secured the U23 Athlete of the Year honour following a season in which the hammer thrower won silver at both the Bergen 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships and the World University Games.
Cian McPhillips was crowned Track Athlete of the Year after a breakthrough campaign that saw him finish fourth in the 800m at the World Athletics Championships, setting a new Irish record of 1:42.15.
The men’s 4x100m relay team — Michael Farrelly, Sean Aigboboh, Marcus Lawler, Israel Olatunde and Bori Akinola — claimed the Team of the Year award after breaking the national record twice in one week, including a 38.88 performance at the Maribor 2025 European Athletics Team Championships.
Derval O’Rourke, the 2006 world indoor 60m hurdles champion and a three-time Olympian, was inducted into the Irish Athletics Hall of Fame.
"Exceptional year"
Athletics Ireland President Brid Golden said: “This has been an exceptional year for Irish athletics, culminating in an amazing haul of medals across the international stage — from U18, U20 and U23 championships right up to Senior and Masters levels.
“We are delighted to celebrate our athletes’ achievements at our National Awards and to express our gratitude to the coaches, clubs, volunteers and long-serving members of our athletics community. Their dedication and commitment are vital to the continued promotion, growth and success of our sport.”