Swinford star heads to World Youth Championships

IRISH CALL?Michaela Walsh of Swinford AC who will compete in the hammer and shot putt at the World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia.

Swinford star heads to World Youth Championships


MICHAELA Walsh from Swinford AC heads off to the World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia next Friday where she will compete in two events, the 3kg shot put and the 3kg hammer. Michaela is only one of three Irish athletes who have managed to reach the qualifying standard required to participate in this competition, where she will be in contention with elite young athletes from all corners of the globe.
Michaela achieved both of these standards at the Irish Schools Championships in Tullamore in May. She effortlessly broke the 15 metre mark required to qualify in the shot putt when she threw 16.48 metres. Knowing that she had to reach 60 metres in the hammer, Michaela smashed the existing record by 16 metres, with a throw of 63.79 metres and catapulted into the World Youth Championships in both events.
There has never been a more successful juvenile athlete in Ireland than Michaela and the records are there to prove it. The year 2014 saw her set six Irish records in the hammer, javelin and shot putt, and two further records at the SIAB Championships in Cardiff. At the European Youth trials in Azerbaijan, she was selected to represent Europe at the World Youth Olympics in China, where she reached the finals and was placed sixth in the world.
This year has been a roller-coaster for this young Swinford AC athlete who has already set many new national records. January saw her set a new record in the 4kg shot put at the Junior Women’s Indoors Championships, and she won gold in the U-17 shot put at the Scottish Indoor Championships at the Emirates stadium in Glasgow in February. In March, she also set a new 4kg shot putt record in the Juvenile Indoors National final.
She was honoured to receive three awards at the National Juvenile Athletics Awards in Tullamore, including Mayo’s Star Athlete Award, the Robyn Sykes Perpetual Cup for outstanding performances in 2014, and the Juvenile Overall Athlete Award for 2014. Setting two new Irish records at the Irish Schools Championships in May, the Scoil Muire agus PΡdraig student went on to represent Connacht at the Tailteann Games in the Morton Stadium in June, where she set two new Irish records in the shot and hammer, breaking the records that she had set herself at the same competition last summer. She was presented with the Fr. Lonergan Trophy for the best female athlete of the day for the second consecutive year.
Swinford AC, which have only been in existence since 2002, are honoured and privileged to have such a talented and successful sportsperson and all athletes, coaches and club members wish Michaela the best of luck as she heads off to Colombia.