Top Irish athlete Cian McPhillips crowned 2025 Longford Sports Star of the Year

Athlete Cian McPhillips was named as the Overall 2025 Longford Leader Sports Star of the Year, in association with Longford Sports Partnership, at Friday’s gala awards ceremony in the Longford Arms Hotel.

Just two days after winning awards for Track Athlete of the Year and Inspirational Performance on Irish Soil (Morton Games) at the 123.ie Natrional Athletics Awards, the immensely talented Irish 800m record holder was honoured in his home county for his fabulous exploits on the track during 2025.

PICTURES | Inspiring future generations: Longford acclaims brilliance of Cian McPhillips

Cian was presented with his Overall 2025 Longford Leader Sports of the Year Award, in association with Longford Sports Partnership, by Longford Leader Managing Editor Alan Walsh and Longford Sports Partnership Co-ordinator Sarah Mulligan. 

Cian, who is part of the Athletics Ireland team for the upcoming SPAR European Cross Country Championships which take place in Lagoa, Portugal on Sunday, December 14, was also the Overall Longford Sports Star of the Year in 2022. 

2025 saw a major return to form for Ardagh native Cian which culminated in a fantastic fourth place finish and two national records set at the World Athletics Championships.

His racing year began in February with an impressive performance in Boston when clocking an indoor 800m personal best of 1:45.33 and ensuring qualification for both the European and World Indoor Championships..

Stricken by injury, Cian bounced back with a superb win at July’s Morton Games 800m crossing the finish line with a new lifetime best of 1:44.19 to secure his place at September’s World Championships in Japan.

Also read: Cian McPhillips is a 'fantastic ambassador for Longford and Ireland'

A rank outsider ahead of his first ever global championship, Cian went on to deliver three world class performances over five memorable days in Tokyo.

In emphatic style, Cian won both his heat and semi-final, the latter achieved with a new Irish record of 1:43.18 as he announced himself on the world stage.

The 800m final included six men that contested the 2024 Olympic Games Final in Paris. 

The high-quality field led to arguably the greatest ever 800 metres with all eight athletes completing the two laps at the Japan National Stadium in under 1:43.

Big in Japan: Tokyo heroics ‘opens a lot of doors’ for Longford athlete Cian McPhillips

Only two-tenths of a second off a medal, Cian was the first European finisher with his 1:42.15 placing him 16th fastest in the all-time world rankings. His previous national 800m standard had lasted only 48 hours.

 It was one of the finest ever performances by an Irish athlete at a major championship.