Rhasidat Adeleke and Ciara Mageean shared the Irish Athlete of the Year award for 2023. The two athletes had a strong season, culminating in fourth place at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August.
Ciara Mageean set national records in the 800m (1:59.27 min), 1,000m (2:31.06 min), 1,500m (3:55.87 min) and one mile (4:14.58 min), while the US college 400m champion Rhasidat Adeleke also set several national the record in 2023 – 60m (7.17 sec), 200m (22.34 sec), 300m (36.87 sec) and 400m (49.20 sec).
Rhasidat Adeleke started her record-breaking spree early at the University of Texas, breaking seven senior marks in all, which also doubled as Irish under-23 records, making for a grand tally of 14.
It is the first time two women athletes share the honor, entirely fitting given the similar heights.
France-based Elizabeth Ndudi took the U20 Athlete of the Year award on the back of her victory in the long jump at the European Junior Championships in Jerusalem to add to the domination of the awards by female athletes. Nicola Tuthill won the nomination for University Athlete of the Year setting no fewer than six Irish U23 records in the hammer.