AAI announces Indoor “Micro Meet” (4th Feb)

Athletics Ireland announces a limited Indoor event to look forward to

In a welcome break from the constant gloomy outlook on a return to in-person live competition, Athletics Ireland announced on Thursday 4th February that the Sport Ireland Expert Group had secured Government approval for an Indoor “Micro Meet” for invited high performance and elite athletes to take place at the National Indoor Arena on February 20th and 21st. The meet will provide qualification opportunities and preparation races for the European Indoors, which takes place in Poland in early March. The event will also be used to attain World Ranking points for athletes working towards qualification for the Tokyo Olympics.

Entry will be restricted to athletes tracking towards Olympic Games qualification and European Indoor Championships qualification, including senior relay panels. A small number of additional athletes may be invited to ensure the event is compliant with the requirements of the event permit, such as minimum number of competitors per event, so that all results are valid for qualification purposes. It is anticipated that only about 60 athletes will take part over the two days and the arena will be emptied after each race or session, in the same way as we saw last summer in Santry at the National T&F. The participation of each athlete must be approved by the Sport Ireland Expert Group.

This event has been planned and negotiated over many weeks and it is a great result for the entire athletics community to secure the backing and trust of Sport Ireland and the Government to allow Athletics Ireland to host the event.