Ciara Mageean, the 2024 European 1500m champion and double Olympian, has passed away at the age of 34 after battling cancer for more than a year.
Her family confirmed this morning, that she had died at 6.30am, surrounded by her loved ones.
In a statement shared on her Instagram account, they described her as: “A beloved daughter, sister, wife, friend and inspiration to so many, she will be deeply missed.”
From Portaferry in County Down, Mageean represented City of Lisburn AC and became one of the most popular figures in Irish athletics. She had publicly announced her cancer diagnosis in July 2025 and recently married her partner, Thomas Moran.
An Unforgettable Night In Rome
For many Irish athletics fans, the lasting sporting memory will be that Sunday evening in Rome in June 2024, when Mageean won the European 1500m title.
With the race entering its decisive stages, she found a narrow gap between Britain’s Jemma Reekie and Georgia Bell before accelerating towards the finish. She crossed the line in 4:04.66, finally securing the senior European gold that had followed years of work and earlier podium finishes.
Her reaction afterwards captured so much of what people loved about her.
“I didn’t grow up playing camogie to get boxed in,” she told RTÉ.
It was a line rooted in her Portaferry upbringing, delivered with the humour and honesty that made her interviews such a pleasure. The joy of that victory, and what it meant to her, needed no explanation.
Rome completed her set of European outdoor medals, following bronze in Amsterdam in 2016 and silver in Munich in 2022.
Her career was also shaped by the late Jerry Kiernan, who coached her during her years in Dublin and helped guide her to European bronze in 2016. Their bond extended far beyond athletics. Following his death in January 2021, Mageean spoke movingly about his importance to her.
“He was a friend and a mentor and, to be honest, he was like a father figure to me in Dublin,” she told RTÉ.
A Career At The Highest Level
Mageean’s achievements extended far beyond that European title.
She won European indoor bronze in 2019 and Commonwealth Games silver for Northern Ireland in Birmingham in 2022. In 2023, she finished fourth in the 1500m at the World Championships in Budapest, narrowly missing a global medal.
Later that season, she ran 3:55.87 in Brussels to set an Irish 1500m record, another landmark in a career spent pushing taking the standards of Irish middle distance running to new heights.
She competed for Ireland at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. An Achilles injury forced her withdrawal from Paris 2024, denying her the opportunity to race at a third Olympics just weeks after her European triumph.
Through the medals, the records and the disappointments, Mageean brought an openness that allowed supporters to share in her sporting life. Her pride in home, her humour and the emotion of those interviews will remain part of how she is remembered.
Everyone at Run Republic extends our deepest sympathies to her husband Thomas, her family, friends, clubmates and all who knew and loved her.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.
