Name: Laura Nicholson
Club: Bandon AC
Event: 1,500m
Personal Best: 4:07.17
Tokyo Schedule: Sat 13 September 11:50am (Heats), Sun 14th September 13:05pm (Semi-Final), with the Final Scheduled for Tue 16th September at 14:05pm
TOKYO UPDATE
Laura Nicholson will have learnt a lot from her first major championship experience. Something I have found as an athlete myself, is we spend alot of time chasing those qualifying slots and then when we do qualify for majors, they just hit us. We think we are prepared but actually too much time has usually been invested into gaining that qualification, and too little into strategizing what happens when we do qualify. Your first major is rather overwhelming: the magnitude of being at a different level, the world stars walking around in the same space as yourself, coping with the training away from your usual zone and most of all, understanding the mental alignment that must be made to jump up to this level of competition. Its something that Irish athletes face over and over again. Laura did her best today as she has done all year. The Bandon AC athlete who is on scholarship at the University of Toledo has raced a lot this year - in excess of 30 races, many back to back. She is has risen to a new level and has the prospects to continue that upward trajectory. In the race itself she stuck within reach of those six automatic qualifying spots, doing well to do so - you could see the effort on her face as she raced hard to maintain the pace. Then when the pace picked up towards the final 500m she just did not have that extra something to give. Laura finished 13th in her heat and 50th overall. She did amazing to get to where she did this year and no doubt with her new experiences and lessons learned we will see her at another major in 2026.
Background
Coached by Andrea McDonough, the University of Toledo graduate in Recreational Theraphy has had a terrific 2024/2025 season. Laura was a promising juvenile athlete with Bandon AC, winning track titles and representing Ireland twice at the European u20 Cross Country. Initially she spent three years at Temple University (Philadelphia) before transferring to Toledo (Ohio) for her final year. Winner of several American Athletic Conference titles while with Temple, it was in Toledo that she had her best athletics year. In her indoor season she was named “The most outstanding Track performer” at the Mid-Atlantic Conference as she won the 800m, mile and 3000m – setting a conference record for the mile. At the Wake Forest Invitational, she ran the 17th fastest 1500m in NCAA history. She finished 8th in the 1500m at the World Student games in Germany.
Tokyo is a first for Laura on many accounts: her first World Championship, her first Senior Major and the first person ever from the University of Toledo to compete at a World Championships.
International Majors
2018: European Cross Country u20, Slovakia – 39th
2018: European Cross Country u20, Tilburg – 60th
2023: American Athletic Conference Kansas 800, 1500 2nd Finals
2023: American Athletic Conference Florida 800, 1500 2nd & 1st Finals
2024: Mid-American Conference Illinois 800, 1500 1st Finals
2025: Mid-American Conference Michigan 800, mile, 3000 1st Finals
2025: World University Games Germany 8th Final
2025: World Championships 1500m, Tokyo H1 13th
Personal Bests
800m: 2:00.28 14/7/2024
1500m: 4:07.17 18/4/2025
Mile: 4:30.85 14/2/2025
5000m 15:33.04 28/3/2025
1500m (i): 4:13.06 15/2/2025
3000m (i): 9:13.54 17/12/2025