Inside Ireland’s Olympic golden couple as they book ‘two tickets to Paris’

TEAM IRELAND will feature the country’s golden athletics couple among its ranks.

Thomas Barr will be heading to his third Games later this month whilst Kelly McGrory will be making her Olympic bow.

While the former has largely made his name as a hurdler throughout his lengthy career, he’s now mainly associated with our recent mixed relay gold medal at the European Championships.

Kelly similarly competes in the 400m hurdles and 400m flat.

She will also be part of the 400m mixed relay roster though which may be subject to change depending on how well the likes of Rhasidat Adeleke and Sharlene Mawdsley get on in the individual sprint pursuits in Paris.

Marking their joint-achievement, the 31-year-old Barr shared a sweet photo of them trackside.

He captioned it: “Two tickets to Paris please! What an absolute honour it is to be selected for my 3rd Olympics alongside my better half for her 1st!!!

“There is no greater sporting honour than representing Ireland at an Olympic Games and the journey to get there is never easy, but worth it.”

The Waterford man and his Donegal girlfriend have spoken in the past about how much of a benefit it is to their relationship that they understand each other’s trials and tribulations as elite athletes.

In 2022 McGrory told Donegal Live: “It’s cool that both of us are in the same sport.

“There is a good understanding with each other about what’s needed.

“We set the bar high for each other. We’re in the same training group and more or less do the same training.

“When we’re into season, everyone’s programme is tailored depending on when the person is trying to peak.

“Thomas is off to the Worlds now and he was tapering at different times, but it’s great that we’re in the same group.”

Barr famously came within .05 seconds of a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Now a bit of a silver fox, he’s become known for being a guiding figure for Ireland’s prodigious crop of new sprint stars such as Adeleke and Israel Olatunde.

McGrory, 27, has had to display a significant amount of resolve in her career to get this far too.

She’s overcome persistent injury problems to bank a career-best year on the track so far in 2024.

The Tir Chonaill Athletics Club product set a new personal best in Rome at those same European Championships where Barr won gold.

She clocked 57.10 seconds in the 400m hurdles final which ensured she wound up in seventh place in the standings.