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In the now 20 years that Paul McNamara has held various coaching and management roles within Athletics Ireland there has never been a better European Championships. This has both raised the bar on where the sport is at and where McNamara believes it can go next. Irish athletes returned home from Birmingham with four medals, including two gold, and recorded a dozen top eight finishes overall. After first joining Athletics Ireland as a regional development officer in 2006, McNamara has been director of high performance for the last 10 years, and during that time funding, support staff, and the championship medal return have all increased around threefold. “We knew it was going to be a good champs coming in,” says McNamara. “And it’s absolutely delivered. The athletes were superb, start to finish. And if you look beyond the medals, it’s the depth that’s really pleasing. “And the takeaway for me is not actually what’s happened on the track, it’s the crowd. What’s happening in Irish athletics with the public is just phenomenal.” READ MORE Still, McNamara sees areas for improvement. From the team of 47 athletes, about a quarter are still based abroad or working with overseas coaches. McNamara reckons the coaching support and backup available in Ireland is now unrivalled, and should be sold that way. Of the four Irish medal winners in Birmingham, Mark English, who won 800m gold, works with Australian coach Justin Rinaldi. Rhasidat Adeleke, who won 200m silver, continues to be coached in Texas by Edrick Floreal. Kate O’Connor, who won heptathlon gold, has built up her own coaching team led by her father Michael, and Andrew Coscoran, who won 1,500m bronze, is largely self-coached, with an input from former Irish team-mate Paul Robinson. “We can’t overstate how good the services provided to our athletes are,” McNamara says. “The landscape in our sport is incredibly complex. We have athletes sponsored by shoe companies in satellite areas that sometimes we don’t see a whole lot of. But the services we do have, and the athletes that avail of them, whether it’s S&C, physio, biomechanics, physiology, psychology, it’s having a massive impact. “Sport Ireland and Sport Ireland Institute have done an incredible job. One of our leading coaches has commented that he believes, relative to his other athletes in other systems, that the supports we have are the best in the world. And I wouldn’t argue with him.” [ A week like few others: Wonder women, golden boys and medals galoreOpens in new window ] The overall operating budget of around €1.2 million, when McNamara started as director of high performance in 2017, is now running at around €3.4 million. Within that, the 2026 high performance investment by Sport Ireland of €1,103,000 is still less than what Swim Ireland and Rowing Ireland received (€1,155,000). McNamara also points out that while some Irish athletes will always opt to live and train abroad, what’s being offered at home has never been more attractive. “The longer I am in the sport, the more I realise that all that glitters is not gold. There are very glamorous environments in other places, outside of Ireland, with very little backup, very little medical wraparound. Usually with shoe company backup, but athletes are kind of left to fend for themselves once they step away from the track, and I think that’s the biggest difference. “And I think we in Athletics Ireland and the Institute need to be a little bit more confident and more assertive about what a truly world-class environment looks like, and the environment that we provide. And really sell that to our athletes. It’s about having our best athletes, with our best coaches, in that environment, and with the best medical wraparound. And we are closer to being able to provide that than we’ve ever done before.” The bar wasn’t raised on everything this season, and McNamara admits both the mixed and women’s 4x400m will need to rebuild in 2027. “We can talk about systems all we want, but ultimately athletes win medals. And you need talent, and that talent needs to have a pathway to move through. I’m working for Athletics Ireland for 20 years, there were 18,000 registered members at that time. Now we’re knocking on the door of 80,000. “Athletes coming in, they’re not coming to get a vest. They’re looking around at their peers and realising these guys medal, and medal repeatedly. So the focus and the mindset throughout the entire sport has changed significantly. “Ultimately, the resources, be it financial or personnel, are always going to be limiting factors in what we can achieve. So we will never turn down further resources, we would put it to very good use.”