Star Laois athletes make Irish team for European Games

Three athletes with strong Laois links have made the Irish team to that will travel to Poland to compete in the European Games.

The Olympic Federation of Ireland has named the 44 athletes to compete at the Games in Krakow which runs from June 20 to 26.

The three Laois athletes to make the cut are:

• Ava O'Connor (from Emo runs for Tullamore Harriers) 3000m SC (F)
• Ruby Millet (St Abban’s AC) Long Jump (F)
• Sarah Buggy (St Abban’s AC) Triple Jump (F)

They'll line up on the Irish team with household names like 400 metre hurdler runner Thomas Barr, hurdler Sarah Lavin and sprinter Israel Olatunde.

St Abban's AC congratulated Ruby Millet and Saragh Buggy on their selection for the Irish team to compete at the European Games 2023.  

Ruby, who lives in Kilkenny, is a multiple national champion and has competed for Ireland several times already. 

Saragh is the most experienced of the local athletes travelling to Poland. No stranger to the podium, she is a 20-time national champion at indoor and outdoor level.

They also congratulated coach Eoin Kelly has been selected to travel with the Irish team as jumps coach. The club says it is much-deserved recognition for a coach who puts in huge commitment with athletes from juvenile to senior level.

Tullamore Harriers wished best of luck to Ava who'll be representing Ireland at the senior level for the first time. This year too O’Connor has achieved the qualifying standard for the European U23 Championships, which take place in Epsoo, Finland in July. She attends Adams State university in Colorado on an athletics scholarship.

Ava has represented Ireland previously in 800m, 1500m and cross country. This year she raced moved up to the 3000 m and the 3000m steeplechase.

The competition takes place in the Silesian Stadium in Chorzow.  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.

Team Ireland will be competing in Division Three, with the main objective of the team being to gain enough points and strong enough performances to move into 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.

This is the third edition of the European Games, which is a multi-sport event run by the European Olympic Committees and will see athletes compete across districts in the Krakow-Malopolska region.