Irish Shot-Put athletes John Kelly (Finn Valley AC) and Eric Favors (Raheny Shamrocks AC) will become only the second and third Irish athletes to compete in the event at a World Championships after they were this afternoon confirmed as members of the Irish team that is heading to Eugene, Oregon next week.
Paul Quirke is the only previous Irish athlete to compete at a World Championships in the Shot Put back in 1993 in Stuttgart, Germany.
Both Kelly and Favors received invites from World Athletics with their selections being ratified by Athletics Ireland and officially announced this afternoon.
The two have driven the event forward in Ireland in recent months. Back in May, Favors threw a massive 20.07m to take the thirty-year National Record from Quirke in Puerto Rico.
Kelly won gold recently at the Irish Life Health National Senior Track and Field Championships with the Donegal man throwing a new Championship Best of 19.25m, eclipsing Favor’s performance in 2019 where he threw 18.64m. Favors won Silver with a best of 18.74m, over his previous record.
Both athletes have faced off twice since at the Morton Games and at Tuesday’s Cork City Sports. Favors finished second at Morton Games with a best of 19.57m, ahead of Kelly’s 19.45m which saw him place fifth.
Tuesday saw what many regard as the greatest Shot Put competition ever seen in Ireland at the Munster Technological University Athletics Stadium in Cork. Kelly threw a massive 20.16m to take the National Record off Favors. While Favors couldn’t overtake Kelly, he himself managed to achieve a new PB of 20.11m. Italian Nick Ponzio won the competition with a throw of 20.71m.
In other news, the Irish team to compete in the Women’s 4x100m relay has been confirmed. Selectors had opted to wait until the team competed in the pre-programme of the Stockholm Diamond League to decide whether to send a team.
Molly Scott (St. Laurence O’Toole AC), Joan Healy (Leevale AC), Sarah Leahy (Killarney Valley AC), Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn AC), and Adeyemi Talabi (Longford AC) will all travel to Oregon, while Kate Doherty (Dundrum South Dublin AC) has been named as a non-travelling reserve.
The World Athletics Championships take place from Friday July 15th to Sunday July 24th.
