Longford athlete Cian McPhillips set for European Indoor Championships

The city of Apeldoorn in the Netherlands will be the setting for Cian McPhillips as he makes his return to international athletics competition this week. 

This will be 22-year-old Cian’s second time to appear at the European Indoor Championships having competed at the 2021 event in Poland when he reached the semi-final of the 800 metres. 

Ardagh’s Cian is among a 19-strong Irish team making the trip to the Dutch city. Once again, the 800m is the event he’ll line up in and he is one of 30 men entered. 

Cian takes to the start line ranked fourth on times ran during this indoor season following a 1:45.3 clocking recently in Boston.

 Some of the other entrants earned their placing based on outdoor times run previously or by world ranking points. 

Mark English (Finn Valley AC) is also on the entry list having set a new Irish indoor record of 1:45.1 in early February. 

The heats of the 800m are scheduled for Friday (March 7) from 10.05am (Irish time) when UCD student Cian will attempt to qualify for Saturday evening’s semi-finals scheduled to start at 7.13pm.

Friday’s race will be shown live on RTE2 television. Longford Athletics Club send their best wishes to Cian as he once again puts on the green singlet of Ireland.

Left: The then 18-year-old Cian McPhillips pictured when he first competed in the 800m at the European Senior Indoor Athletics Championships in Poland four years ago. Right: Cian pictured after winning the 800m at the National Senior Indoor Championships in 2024