Kelly Murphy
Cycling
BIOGRAPHY
Kelly Murphy represented Ireland as part of the women’s team pursuit at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games – the first time Ireland had ever qualified in the event.
The quartet of Murphy, Lara Gillespie, Mia Griffin and Alice Sharpe set a new national record of 4:12.447 in the qualifying round but finished 9th, missing the next round by just 0.242 seconds. Murphy’s Olympic journey is one of sport’s more unlikely stories. Born in Birmingham to Irish parents – her father Gerry from Roscommon and her mother Ellen from Dublin, who happened to have grown up as neighbours – she only took up cycling in her mid-twenties as a means of commuting, using a bike to cut a 90-minute public transport journey to university in half.
Two weeks after completing a PhD in brain imaging and cognitive neuroscience at Aston University, she received an unexpected call from Cycling Ireland. She has since won four Irish Time Trial titles on the road. Ireland was the only one of the ten qualifying nations without a home velodrome, with the squad doing the bulk of their training at the Cycling Ireland base in Mallorca.
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EVENTS COMING UP IN AUGUST
Athletics World U20 Championships, Eugene, Oregon: 5-9 August European Athletics Championships, Birmingham: 10-16 August Lausanne Diamond League: 20-21 August Silesia Diamond League: 23 August Zurich Diamond League: 27 August Boxing European U19 Championships, Loznica, Serbia: 11-22 August Boxing Ireland U23 Championships, 7-22 August Cycling UEC Mountain Bike European Championships, Monteceneri, Switzerland: 30 July [...]
Irish Sailing and Rugby Sevens Shine in Action-Packed Weekend
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In The News – 13th July 2026
Three former Team Ireland European Youth Olympic Festival athletes spearheaded a week of outstanding performances for Irish sport, with Emer Heverin and Seth Dunwoody crowned European champions while Rían McCrystal claimed victory at the Quanta Capital Junior Tour of Ireland. There was also international success for Shane Sweetnam in Sweden, where he secured a prestigious [...]
In The News – July 6th 2026
Irish athletes continued to make their mark on the international stage this week, with a junior world title in canoe sprint, a first international medal for diver Jake Passmore, and major victories in cycling and show jumping highlighting another impressive period of success across multiple sports. Sean Butterly Crowned Junior World Champion in Halifax Ireland [...]
Performance Round Up – June 2026
Athletics Mark English finished second in a high-quality men’s 800m field at the Rome Diamond League. The Donegal athlete clocked a season’s best time of 1:43.80, his second fastest ever over the distance, as he closed strongly in the final metres to challenge for victory. Sarah Healy delivered a personal best time of 14:48.88 in [...]