The first question which follows any spectacular underage success such as Conor Kelly has just achieved is inevitable: so what happens next?
Just a month after turning 18, Kelly utterly dominated the 400 metres final at the European Under-20 Championships in Tampere, Finland on Saturday. His winning time of 45.83 seconds gave him a margin of victory of well over half a second and improved his own Irish under-20 record.
It was the only medal won by Ireland over the four-day championships, but historically one of the very best.
Kelly won’t be resting his recent laurels for long. Next week, he’s heading to Austin, committing his immediate future to the University of Texas, where Rhasidat Adeleke also progressed her considerable talent after winning a European Under-20 sprint double in 2021.
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For an athlete such as Kelly, who clearly relishes the competition, that also offers him to the chance to develop against the best teenagers in the world, most of whom are in US colleges.
“I couldn’t stop smiling, it was special,” Kelly said of his medal presentation on Sunday, also referencing the bronze medal he won in the European Under-18 event last year.
“Last year’s bronze was great, but it hurt me. There’s such a huge amount of work you have to put into this: food, going to bed early. There’s so much day-to-day work at 100 per cent. My coaches, dietitian, physio and all the people around me – it’s a big team. This feels amazing.
“I just want to enjoy this achievement. It’s taken a lot of work and I’m so proud. It’s my last week, before I’m off to Texas, and that’s big. We can seriously get to work now.”
Kelly becomes only the ninth Irish athlete to win a European Under-20 gold, coming 50 years after John Treacy claimed Ireland’s first medal at this level, bronze in the 5,000m in Athens in 1975. Plenty of other successful names have followed in his footsteps, including Mark Carroll, Ciara Mageean, Sarah Lavin, Sarah Healy, Kate O’Connor and Adeleke.
Born in London to Irish parents, his mother Mary-Jo from Derry, his Lisburn-born father Steve growing up in Dublin, Kelly is coached by Paul Miller at Hercules Wimbledon AC in London, while representing Finn Valley AC here.
There were other encouraging performances in Tampere, Precious Akpe-Moses making the 100m and 200m final, before anchoring the women’s 4x100m relay to finish eighth in their final. Seán Cronin also finished eighth in Sunday’s tactical 1,500m final.
Away from Tampere, Nick Griggs, a European Under-20 champion from 2021, smashed his own Irish Under-23 record over 5,000m when clocking a brilliant 13:05.75 in Oordegem, Belgium. Darragh McElhinney also improved his best to 13:02.06, second fastest on the Irish all-time list.
