Sophie, Miriam & Miranda depart for the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires

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The Olympic Federation of Ireland announced last month that Sophie Meredith (Women’s Long Jump), Miranda Tcheutchoua (Women’s Hammer) and Miriam Daly (Women’s 400mH) will be competing for Team Ireland as part of a squad of 16 athletes from 9 sports in the 3rd edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG) which features over 4,000 athletes in 32 sports.

The competition runs from October 6th to October 18th in Buenos Aires while the Athletics competition schedule runs from Thursday  11th to Tuesday 16th of October.

It will be a challenge for the girls to reproduce their excellent summer form in October, but their personal coaches and Athletics Ireland’s Performance Pathway Manager Jacqui Freyne have worked hard to help the girls prepare for the challenge. In a competition format, unique to YOG, the distances/times in the qualifying round are added to those in the final to give each athlete’s overall result.

Seventeen-year-old Sophie Meredith, from Newcastle West (Coaches Yvonne Meredith & Jacqui Freyne) qualified for YOG in the long jump at the European U18 Athletics Championships in Györ this July. Sophie has a PB of 6.02m. Miranda Tcheutchoua Lusk AC (Coach Landry Nzambe-Busugu) made her Irish International debut at the age of seventeen in the Hammer at the European U18 Athletics Championships in Györ, qualifying for YOG. Miranda has a PB of 61.73m. Carrick-on-Suir’s Miriam Daly (Coach Paul O’Gorman) also competed in this year’s European U18 Athletics Championships in Györ, qualifying for YOG in the 400mh. Miriam has a PB of 61.32

The three girls will depart today to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where Sophie takes to the track first on Thursday October 11th in the qualifying round of the long jump at 19:25 Irish time. Miranda goes in the hammer event on Friday 12th at 18:40 and Miriam will be competing on Saturday 13th at 18:50 in the qualifying round of the 400mH. Athletics Ireland would like to wish Sophie, Miranda, Miriam and Team Ireland the very best of luck.

Speaking on the competition, President of the Olympic Federation of Ireland, Sarah Keane said, “Our team is made up of talented and committed athletes, who have worked hard to qualify for these Games, where they take on the world’s best in their fields.

"This will undoubtedly be a significant stepping stone for them in their sporting careers. As ever, none of this would be possible without the support of their families, coaches, NGBs, Sport Ireland High Performance Unit and Sport Ireland Institute.”

Keep up to date with everything on our social media channels (Facebook @AthleticsIreland & Twitter @IrishAthletics). Visit the official Youth Olympic Games website or install the Buenos Aires 2018 app for more information and results.

The Youth Olympic Games will be streamed live on the Olympic Channel HERE.   

 

Team Ireland

  • Athletics: Miriam Daly (400m Hurdles), Sophie Meredith (Long Jump), Miranda Tcheutchoua (Hammer)
  • Badminton: Nhat Nguyen (Men’s Singles)
  • Boxing: Dean Clancy (Men’s Flyweight), Lauren Kelly (Middleweight), Dearbhla Rooney (Bantamweight)
  • Diving: Tanya Watson (10m Platform)
  • Karate: Sean McCarthy Crean (+68kg)
  • Golf: Lauren Crowley Walsh (Women’s Individual, Mixed Team), David Kitt (Men’s Individual, Mixed Team)
  • Gymnastics: Emma Slevin (Women’s Artistic Programme)
  • Swimming: Niamh Coyne (50, 100, 200 breaststroke), Mona McSharry (50, 100, 200 breaststroke, 50 freestyle), Robert Powell (50, 100 freestyle, 50 butterfly)
  • Tennis: Georgia Drummy (Women’s Singles)

#IrishAthletics #TeamIreland #BuenosAires2018

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