Pocket rocket Killarney sprinter Sarah Leahy is competing in the 123.ie National Indoor Athletics Championships on Sunday, having won the event in 2023 and she is hoping to regain her national title after finishing second last year. The 25-year-old is part of the relay programme for 2025 and has aspirations of making the World Championships in September. Leahy has had a fast rise to the top of high-performance sprinting in Ireland, swapping her football boots for spikes in 2021.
Interview: Kate Kirk
Before 2021 Sarah Leahy had only dabbled in the world of sprinting. Her focus was very much on the GAA pitch, playing football for Kerry and her club Killarney Legion but her speed and pocket rocket ability was well known.
It wasn’t until seeing the women’s team at the World Relays in Poland, where they secured a silver medal in the not often ran 4x200m, that Leahy’s focus shifted.
“It was all football and then when Covid hit. I remember seeing the 4x100m women’s senior relay at the World Relays. It was during lockdown. I was doing football training by myself, trying to work on my skills, and when I saw the girls in Poland, I just got this realisation, I really want to do that, that looks so much fun and these are girls, I knew, were my age. I might have competed against some of them.
Pictures: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
“By seeing them, it kind of made me realise it was possible. I wanted to do that. I wanted to go back,” added the 2023 national champion.
Leahy competed in athletics from the age of 10 but football took over when the inevitable pressure to meet the demands of club and county meant she could no longer balance both sports.
The now 25-year-old played for Kerry from Under-14 level right up to the senior panel but she always enjoyed athletics, even winning a silver medal in the Under-14 national indoor championships behind eventual senior 60m record holder Molly Scott.
“I was actually in athletics from a young age. I always really enjoyed it but football took over with school and college. I was with Kerry for a good few years and, as much as I wanted to balance both, football just kind of kept coming out on top.
“You can’t miss training, there’s a whole team and so I kind of left athletics,” adds Leahy.
She was regarded as a very talented footballer, destined for the top with Kerry and she was one of the outstanding young players at club level.
But she turned her focus elsewhere and her rise in Irish sprinting ranks was as fast as her start.
The UL student made the national championships final over 100m on her fist attempt in 2021, just two-months after watching the Irish women win silver in Poland.
Since that first outdoor final in 2021, Sarah – the daughter of Mike and Marie Leahy from Killarney – has made every indoor and outdoor national final, winning the 60m event in 2023.
She is included on the national relay programme for 2025 and is hopeful the 4x100m women’s relay can provide another coveted Irish vest in 2025.
The women’s 4x100m squad has not made a senior championship since 2022 but now that the short sprint relay programme has been reinvigorated, the Killarney athlete has her sights set on the LA Olympic Games.
“I was very fortunate in 2022. We went to Oregon for the world championships. This year, fingers crossed, everything goes well. We’re going to try our best to make the world championships in September in Japan.
“Hopefully we just get those times on the board, get qualifications and, obviously, the long-term goal is LA in 2028,” explains Leahy.
This year’s international championship calendar is packed and Leahy doesn’t just have relay ambitions as she is aiming to qualify for the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn at the start of March.
To secure her spot on the team, she will need to run the automatic qualifying time of seven point two seconds at the national championships this coming weekend, something she thinks is possible.
“Since the beginning of the indoor season, the aim was to try and get the standards. It is very high but, I mean, that’s why we train, that’s why we work hard.
“I would love a PB, that might secure a B standard but with the rankings and stuff, I don’t know where that would place me.
“I suppose go hard or go home – I’m going to try and get that 7.20.
“I’d love to get an Irish vest this year, indoors, outdoors, whatever I can take, I’ll try my best,” Leahy adds of her goals for the year.
Daniel Kilgallon has been coaching Sarah since her move to Dublin in 2022. The Tallaght based training group is considered a sprint powerhouse in Ireland, with the likes of Rhasidat Adeleke and Israel Olatunde winning medals under the guidance of Kilgallon in their formative years.
Leahy credits Kilgallon with her immediate success – reducing her 60m personal best from 7.95 seconds to 7.39 seconds between the 2022 and 2023 indoor seasons.
“I’ve actually learned so much to do with training and also mindset is very important and I think Daniel is just an excellent coach.
“When I went in with him, I was quite successful straight off so I’m hoping to keep that going and I’m just very grateful to be in the group and keep improving,” reflects Leahy.
The hugely talented Killarney Valley AC athlete believes mindset has made all the difference and feels those skills can give her the edge on Sunday at the National Indoor Championships, despite this being only her fourth time in the event.
“Each year you learn something new and how to deal with the pressure and I’m learning a lot with that mindset.
“I think two years ago I went in really confident and I came out with a national title and then last year I think maybe my mindset wavered a little bit and I paid the price. I didn’t have my best race in the final.
“There’s a lot of focus going into the preparation. I’m confident in what I’ve learned and I’m gaining experience every time because I’m still quite new to the sport. I’m very excited for Sunday.”
* Watch Sarah Leahy compete in the 123.ie Irish National Indoor Championships on February 22/23 with live streaming on the Athletics Ireland YouTube channel and tickets available on athleticsireland.ie.
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