European Throwing Cup 2025 Preview: Tuthill to compete in European Throwing Cup after record-breaking 2024
Five Irish athletes will compete in Nicosia, Cyprus over two days, from 15 to 16 March at the 2025 European Throwing Cup.
2024 was a record-breaking year for throws in Ireland and the Throws Cup is the first key competition for most of the throwers.
The throws only event has been running since 2001 and is an opportunity for throwers from across Europe to get early marks ahead of a busy outdoor season and is particularly critical for long throws who don’t get the opportunity to compete indoors. The cup is a category ‘C’ event, meaning more crucial points towards the various championship opportunities this season for Irish throwers.
Timetable – ETC Nicosia 2025 Timetable (13 March 2025).pdf
Final Entries – ETC 2025 – Final Entries Athletes List By Event & SB v2.pdf
Event page for results and streaming information – European Throwing Cup – Nicosia | Let’s move people together!
Day 1 preview
LSA AC’s Anna Gavigan will start proceedings for the Irish team in the U23 women’s discus on Saturday. Gavigan, coached by Gerry Ronan, is competing in the Throwing Cup for the second time.
In 2024, the 20-year-old finished 15th in the U23 category, this time she is ranked in a similar position on season’s best. A target for the event may be to achieve the Athletics Ireland ‘B’ standard of 51.50m for the European U23 Championships in Bergen, Norway in July.
Gavigan threw a respectable season opener of 47.20m at the Dunboyne throws event on 15 February where the weather conditions were challenging. The forecast for the Cypriot capital over the weekend will be in stark contrast to the current Irish climate, with highs of 30 degrees expected on both Saturday and Sunday.
Wind speeds are not predicted to exceed 5mph, going from North to South on Saturday and from North-northwest to South-southeast on Sunday.
day 2 preview
Day two will see Olympian Nicola Tuthill step into the circle first, in the women’s U23 hammer. Tuthill has claimed silver medals in this event in the last two editions and is coming into this year after a strong 2024, where she made both the European final and her Olympic debut. Tuthill may hope to go one better than her last two outings at the Cup and take home a first ever gold for Ireland in the event.
There will be stiff competition from Sweden’s Thea Lofman who has a lifetime best over 73 metres. The rest of the 14-athlete field are some way off the top two, with Rachele Mori from Italy leading the charge for bronze with a personal best of 69.09m. Tuthill will have plenty of championships to get qualification marks for, including the European U23 Championships in July, the World Student Games and finally the World Championships in Tokyo in September.
Eric Favours will compete in the senior men’s shot. Favours has thrown just shy of his National Indoor record this year with a 20.05m mark, thrown in the Czech Republic in the middle of February. The six-time national champion is ranked 5th on personal bests and is one of only seven competitors to throw over 20 metres this year.
Topping the entry list in the men’s shot is Italy’s Nick Ponzio who made his international return to competition at the European Indoors last week, following an 18-month ban for whereabouts failures. Ponzio threw his 21.83 personal best in this event in 2022, but will be challenged by Ukraine’s Artem Levchenko who finished just one place behind him at the European indoors in Apeldoorn.
Ireland have never won a senior medal in the European Throwing Cup and if Favours builds on his momentum from the indoor season he will be within touching distance of the podium.
World Junior silver medallist Oisín Joyce will make his first appearance at U23 level in the men’s javelin. The Lake District AC man will open his season in Nicosia and is ranked 7th out of 15 competitors.
Muhammet Hanifi Zengin tops the entry list with a mark of over 79 meters from the start of the month, adding over 3 metres to his previous best. Trailing some three metres behind Zengin is Nick Thumm from Germany who has thrown 75.00m this season, and after that, Joyce will be in good company with many athletes throwing around the 73 to 75 metre mark. In Joyce’s mind will be the 75.00m target for qualification for the European U23 Championships in July.
Lastly, Niamh Fogarty will compete in the senior women’s discus. Fogarty travelled to Cyprus earlier this week to acclimatise to the likely hot conditions. The women’s discus is among the most competitive fields at this competition, with the likes of Kristin Pudnez, Melina Robert-Michion and Marike Steinacker all listed to compete.
Fogarty will open her season at the competition, where, after a personal-best breaking 2024, she will have a target of the 57.60m national record set by Patricia Walsh in 1984.
Unlike standard competition format, all athletes will get six throws. While this removes some of the pressure, it means the competition lasts much longer and in the predicted temperatures, athletes will be prepared with cooling and fuelling strategies.
Irish in Action Schedule
SATURDAY 15TH MARCH
Anna Gavigan – U23 Women’s Discus Pool B – 13:10 (15:10* local time)
SUNDAY 16TH MARCH
Nicola Tuthill – U23 Women’s Hammer – 08:10 (10:10* local time)
Oisín Joyce – U23 Men’s Javelin – 10:35 (12:35* local time)
Eric Favours- Senior Men’s Shot Put Pool A – 14:55 (16:55* local time)
Niamh Fogarty – Senior Women’s Discus Pool B – 13:20 (17:20* local time)
