Family, friends and members of the sporting community will gather in Portaferry, Co Down, today to say their final farewells to Irish athletics champion Ciara Mageean, who died on Sunday at the age of 34.
The funeral service for the Olympic athlete and European 1500m champion will take place at St Patrick's Church in her hometown at 2pm this afternoon.
Mageean, who was originally from Portaferry, represented Ireland at two Olympic Games, competing in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020. Throughout her distinguished career, she established herself as one of the country's leading middle-distance runners, setting multiple Irish records in the 800m, 1500m and mile events.
One of the defining moments of her career came in Rome in 2024, when she claimed European Championship gold in the 1500m. The victory made her only the second Irish athlete, after Sonia O'Sullivan, to win an individual European title.
In 2025, Mageean shared the devastating news that she had been diagnosed with stage-four bowel cancer.
Despite her illness, she married her long-term partner, Thomas Moran, in a ceremony in Co Louth just weeks before her death.
Tributes have poured in from across Ireland, with many remembering not only her remarkable sporting accomplishments but also the profound sadness surrounding her death at such a young age.
President Catherine Connolly joined those paying tribute to the athlete, while fellow sports stars also expressed their condolences.
Republic of Ireland women's football captain Katie McCabe and fellow Olympians Keely Hodgkinson and Dina Asher-Smith were among those who honoured Mageean's memory.
Her achievements on the track, including her historic European triumph, secured her place among Ireland's most celebrated athletes. Today, her hometown will come together to remember a sporting icon whose life and career inspired people across the country.
