Cian McPhillips finishing in fourth place in the 800m final at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, producing a new national record with a time of 1:42.15
Three top UCD athletes have made their mark in this year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
UCD Maths student and UCD AC runner Cian McPhillips became the first Irish man to qualify for a world outdoor 800m final.
McPhillips finished in fourth place in the final, producing a new national record with a time of 1:42.15. It took three Olympic medallists - Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati and Canada’s Marco Arop - to beat him.
The 23-year-old beat former UCD AC runner Mark English’s national record time to qualify for the final. English also ran the men’s 800m semi-final to finish third in 1:45.47.
Meanwhile, UCD Ad Astra Elite Sports Scholar Nicola Tuthill finished 11th in the world in the Women’s Hammer Throw final. The 21-year-old finished with a best of 69.49 metres, after breaking new ground with her 70.70m mark in the qualifying pool on Sunday.
A rising star in Irish field events, Tuthill made her Olympic debut in the hammer at the 2024 Paris Games, and is only the third female Irish thrower to become an Olympian.
Named UCD’s Sportsperson of the Year for 2025, Tuthill is also Ireland’s first ever gold medal winner at the European Throwing Cup.
Former UCD Ad Astra Elite Sports Scholar Sarah Healy finished 10th in the final of the Women’s 1500m.
Competing in her first world outdoor final, the 24-year-old crossed the line with a time of 3:59.14. The race was won by Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon.
The Dubliner has had a hugely successful year so far, having won the European indoor 3000m gold in March and her first Diamond League in Rome in June.
The Ad Astra Elite Sports Scholarship programme at University College Dublin supports students who are competing and succeeding at the highest sporting levels. It is the University’s flagship scholarship programme.
By: Rebecca Hastings, Digital Journalist, UCD University Relations
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Stellar week for UCD Athletics Club at World Athletics Championships
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