Legendary Longford athlete Ray Flynn says 'this is only the beginning of greatness' for Cian McPhillips

Legendary Longford athlete Ray Flynn says 'this is only the beginning of greatness' for Cian McPhillips (23) after his three superb performances at the World Championships in Tokyo. 

Ray, who celebrated his 68th birthday earlier this year, was first introduced to a very young Cian McPhillips eleven years ago in 2014 at a reception hosted by Longford Town Council where he was bestowed with the Freedom of Longford.

In 2017 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Longford Leader / Longford Sports Partnership Sports Star Awards. 

Ray's Irish mile record of 3:49.77, set at the Dream Mile on July 7 1982 in Oslo, stood for over 42 years. He was highly impressed by how Cian performed in his debut World Championships. 

"It was a spectacular race again from Cian. 4th in the World," he enthused. 

Also read: Longford's Cian McPhillips finishes like train but medal agonisingly eludes him

An Olympian in 1980 and 1984, Ray runs the Flynn Sports Management agency in the US and at the 2024 Paris Olympics three of his clients enjoyed a clean sweep in the 1,500 metres final with Cole Hocker (USA) taking gold, followed by  Josh Kerr (Great Britain) silver and Yared Nuguse (USA) bronze. 

Ray is Meet Director of the Millrose Games in New York and in 2020, Cian received an invite for the meet and convincingly won the Boys Mile race against some of the top US high school milers.

Reflecting on Cian's 4th place World Championship finish, Ray remarked, "I think this is only the beginning of greatness up ahead for him in the years ahead."

Remarkably, in 2021, the year in which Cian McPhillips reached the semi-final of the European Indoor 800m, he also broke Ray Flynn’s Irish U20 1500m record at the AAI Summer Games in Carlow. Cian's time of 3:40.56 sliced two seconds off the mark that stood for 45 years. 

Also read: Remembering legendary Longford athlete Ray Flynn’s golden moment at the Dream Mile in Oslo