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Rhasidat Adeleke (Tallaght AC) was crowned the 2024 Athlete of the Year at the 123.ie National Athletics Awards which took place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Santry on November 20th.
Adeleke took top honours on the back of another superb season which saw her smash Irish records over 60m, 200m and 300m indoors, and over 100m and 400m outdoors. In May, the Tallaght athlete helped Ireland to bronze medals in the mixed 4x400m at the World Relays and won silver in both the 400m and women’s 4x400m at the Europeans in June, along with gold in the mixed 4x400m.
Adeleke was just 0.3 away from an individual 400m medal at the Olympics, a performance which was followed up by another fourth-place finish with the women’s 4x400m team, where she teamed up with Sophie Becker, Phil Healy and Sharlene Mawdsley to obliterate the Irish record, their time of 3:19.90 just 0.18 away from a medal.
Adeleke would round out her season with a third-place finish in her debut at the Diamond League final, capping another breakthrough year for the Dubliner.
Adeleke also walked away with today’s Sprint & Hurdles Athlete of Year Award, fending off strong competition from Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC), Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC), and Israel Olatunde (Tallaght AC) who all enjoyed exceptional years.
Ciara Mageean (City of Lisburn AC) walked away with the Middle Distance Athlete of the Year Award ahead of fellow nominees Cathal Doyle, Mark English, and Sarah Healy. Mageean opened her season by lowering her own 800m record to 1:58.51 back in May, before going on to be crowned European 1500m champion on an historic night in Rome. That gold medal performance secured the third European outdoor medal of Mageean’s career, following on from her bronze in Amsterdam in 2016 and the silver in Munich in 2022.
The Endurance Athlete of the Year Award went to Fionnuala McCormack (Kilcoole AC) who once again proved her class over cross country and the marathon over the past 12 months. The Wicklow woman finished 28th in the Paris Marathon to become the first Irishwoman to compete in five Olympic Games. Others to be nominated in the category included Nick Griggs, Efrem Gidey, and Cormac Dalton.
Irish field events continue to go from strength to strength, and fittingly it was one of the rising stars who walked away with the Field Athlete of the Year Award. UCD’s Nicola Tuthill enjoyed another stellar season, highlighted by her Olympic debut in the hammer which saw the 20-year-old unleash a 69.90m effort in the women’s hammer throw qualification round which was just over a metre shy of making the final. Also represented as nominees in the category were Eric Favors, Reece Ademola, and Kate O’Connor.
Oisin Joyce (Lake District AC) won the U20 Athlete of the Year Award on the back of securing Ireland’s first ever throws medal in the javelin at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Peru back in August.
The 19-year-old produced the performance of his life to win bronze, extending his own Irish U20 record out to 73.89m to claim what was Ireland’s fifth ever medal at the championships.
Joyce fought off stiff competition for the award with Elizabeth Ndudi (Dundrum South Dublin AC), Fintan Dewhirst (Tir Chonaill AC), and European U18 hammer throw champion Thomas Williams (Shercock AC) all receiving worthy nominations on the back of brilliant seasons.
Irish relay enjoyed a year to remember, and it was fitting that the women’s 4x400m Olympic team of Kelly McGrory (Tir Chonaill AC), Lauren Cadden (Sligo AC), Rachel McCann (North Down AC), Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock AC), Phil Healy (Bandon AC), Rhasidat Adeleke (Tallaght AC), and Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) picked up the Team of the Year Award on the back of their historic 4th placed finish in Paris.
The Team of the Year Award was arguably the most debated award on the night, with the omission of the European gold-medal-winning mixed relay team from the award winners circle again pointing to what has been an exceptional year for Irish athletics.
Gillian O’Sullivan was a very popular inductee into the Hall of Fame for 2024. The Kerry native began a glittering career in 1994 which would see her represent Ireland at European Championships, World Championships, and an Olympic Games in the 20km Race Walk.
Arguably O’Sullivan’s best performance came in 2003 when she took silver in the 20km Walk at the World Championships in Paris, the first time since 1995 that an Irish athlete had won a World Championship medal. The feat sees O’Sullivan remain part of an exclusive club of only five Irish athletes – Eamonn Coghlan, Sonia O’Sullivan, Olive Loughnane, and Rob Heffernan – who have podiumed at a World Athletics Outdoor Championship.
While the 123.ie National Athletics Awards are a celebration of the many successes of our international and national athletes, it also commemorates the association’s exceptional volunteer base. The Lifetime Services to Athletics Award was presented to Peter Hanlon (Crusaders AC), while Sligo’s Anne McHugh won Official of the Year.
Neil Cusack was the recipient of the Special Recognition Award, while Peter McDermott (Clonliffe Harriers AC) received the award for services to coaching.
CEO of Athletics Ireland, Hamish Adams, “The 123.ie National Athletics Awards allow us to celebrate the great performances of our athletes and organisation over the course of the last year, while also offering Athletics Ireland the opportunity to thank and acknowledge our coaches, officials, and clubs for their enormous contribution to the success of our sport.
We have enjoyed a stellar year in 2024 including a record 70,000 registered members and we look forward to building on this year’s successes heading into a busy 2025 and beyond.”
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