Double Olympic medallist Reardon to run in Belfast

BBC News

27-02-2025

Great Britain's double Olympic relay medallist Sam Reardon has joined an already strong entry list for the Belfast Irish Milers Meet on 10 May. His fellow Great Britain Olympic team-mate Phoebe Gill will lead the entries for the World Athletics Continental Tour meeting after her stunning performance at the Belfast event last summer. Reardon, 21, was part of Great Britain's quartet that clinched third place in the mixed 4x400m relay final at last year's Paris Olympics and also helped his country secure bronze in the men's 4x400m relay at the Games.The Londoner, who runs for the Blackheath & Bromley club, was a late call-up to the GB Olympic relay squads after smashing his 400m personal best when clocking 44.70 seconds at the London Diamond League meeting a week before the Games.That performance cut 1.29 seconds off his previous fastest 400m produced at the Morton Games in Dublin earlier in July. Reardon was fifth in the 800m final at the 2022 World Under-20 Championships in Colombia and has a 1:45.95 personal best for the longer distance but after combining the two events, opted to concentrate on the 400m last season. His opponents at the Mary Peters Track will include Ireland internationals Jack Raftery, Callum Baird and Sean Doggett while event director Eamonn Christie is also holding out hope that recent national indoor champion Conor Kelly could be a late addition to the 400m field."It's great that an athlete of Sam's calibre, a double Olympic medallist, is keen to run at my meet and he knows full well he'll be coming to a track and a meet where fast times have been run in recent years," said Christie.
Gill, then aged 17, smashed the 45-year-old European Under-18 800m record at the Belfast meeting last May by clocking one minute 57.86 to cut almost four seconds off her personal best.Her Belfast victory started a run of remarkable performances by the St Albans athlete who won the 800m title at the British Championships and went on to reach the Olympic semi-finals.Gill plans to race over 1500m at this year's Belfast meeting and her metric mile opposition will include other young British talents Innes FitzGerald and Ava Lloyd.The big-name Irish athletes to have already signed up for the meeting include European mixed 4x400m gold medallist Sharlene Mawdsley. Last year's Belfast meeting was held in sweltering conditions and also produced a superb men's 800m as Great Britain's Callum Dodds broke one minute and 45 seconds for the first time to clinch victory in a track record of 1:44.79, which propelled him towards selection for the European Championships.Dodds will return to the Mary Peters Track where his 800m opponents will again include last year's runner-up, compatriot Tom Randolph who also went under 1:45 and another Briton Tiarnan Crorken, who clocked 1:45.60 when placing fourth nine months ago.