Athletics Ireland is delighted to announce a total of €580,000 in direct athlete support for 2022 via its Operation Gold Performance Programme.

€442,000 of this is provided directly by Sport Ireland via its 2022 International Carding Scheme, which was officially announced by Sport Ireland last Thursday May 5th. This support is provided to nineteen individual athletes at World Class and International level, plus the Mixed Relay team which is also supported at World Class Level. Three further ‘high-potential’ athletes transitioning out of the under-age ranks are also supported by Sport Ireland via pool funding. With increases in the level of funding at International (€18,000, previously €12,000) and World Class (€25,000, previously €20,000), along with an increased number of athletes in receipt of Sport Ireland funding, this represents a significant increase in the value of direct athlete support from Sport Ireland.

In addition to direct Sport Ireland support, Athletics Ireland will make a further €138,000 in direct support available to a total of thirty-seven high potential athletes at Emerging Talent (16-19 years of age in qualifying year), Development (20-24 years of age in qualifying year), and Discretionary (Aged 24+) levels of carding.

Paul McNamara, Athletics Ireland Performance Director said: “We are delighted to announce this enhanced direct athlete support, which will further aid the preparation of our Performance Athletes towards targeted championships and support the transition of our future stars. We are immensely appreciative of Sport Irelands increased carding investment in our sport.  In the Tokyo cycle we increased our medal count at targeted championships to 25, from 12 during Rio cycle, and have seen a greater number of athletes qualifying to major championships off tougher qualifying standards, and an enhanced depth in the performance level across a range of events. We look forward to shortly launching our new High Performance Strategy which will further detail our plans for future and sustained success”.

Athletics Ireland congratulates all the following athletes who will receive carding support for 2022. This has been earned by all the athletes through exceptional performance in their chosen discipline. We are committed to supporting this talented group to achieve their full potential as athletes and people. We acknowledge the family, coach and personal support individuals in this group have received to date, and we look forward to working together to support these individuals to reach their full potential.

Selection Policy for the 2022 Operation Gold Performance Programme is published here and integrates criteria for Sport Ireland Carding. 

Sport Ireland’s own criteria are published here.

Please note, as per published criteria, Athletics Ireland do not provide carding support to athletes in the NCAA but will support NCAA athletes on a case-by-case basis in pursuit of their performance goals outside of NCAA commitments.

* Athletes denoted will draw down 75% of award, with remaining 25% paid upon achieving criteria in 2022

**Leon Reid, Menapians 200m Tokyo Olympic semi-finalist, has achieved International carding criteria and will continue to be supported in 2022. Note following his recent court case Leon Reid has received a suspended sentence and community service. A recent Athletics Ireland high performance panel review of this case also requires additional community service to be completed by Leon. Athletics Ireland is committed to the holistic support and development of all our elite athletes. We note Sport Ireland is still reviewing this decision.