*Alex O’Neill.
QUIN ATHLETE Alex O’Neill has signed a professional contract with Adidas in what she has described as “an incredibly exciting milestone in my career”.
In August, Alex won her first national senior title with a first place finish in a pulsating Women’s 800m in the National Athletics Championship in Santry. Later that month, she clocked a personal best of 2:00:18 to finish sixth at the British Milers Club meeting in London.
This marked “a breakthrough season” for Alex, she admitted. Both feats coupled with a season of strong races led to Adidas inviting her to their London offices in early November to discuss a professional contract.
Within the past fortnight, she has officially put pen to paper on a deal with Adidas for 2026.
She told The Clare Echo that this “is an incredibly exciting milestone in my career. It’s a huge opportunity and has allowed me to step away from my full-time role as a Project Coordinator at global sports marketing agency Redtorch to fully commit to training and prioritise recovery between sessions each day.
“Around the same time, I unfortunately experienced a flare-up of a previous back injury. However, since travelling to South Africa in the new year, where I’ve spent the past five weeks training, I’ve been steadily improving and am getting back to fitness quickly. I am really excited about the season to come, to see what I can do and make the most of this opportunity”.
Securing a professional contract with Adidas is the stuff of dreams, the twenty five year old confessed. “I’ve received an incredible amount of support from both the county and across the country over the past year, and I am so grateful for it. Becoming a professional athlete is something I’ve always dreamed of, and it still feels surreal to now be in that position. After nearly a decade of plateauing, I honestly wasn’t sure it would ever happen. I think it’s so important to stay committed to sport, it’s not always about winning, times, or even contracts. If you keep at it, as my granny would say ‘what’s for you won’t go by you’,”.
Her personal best was important as it ensured O’Neill met the qualifying standard for the World Championships in Tokyo, last September. She had started the season with a personal best of 2:05.86, which was outside the standard required for World Continental Tour meets where athletes earn ranking points toward championship selection. As a result, she wasn’t initially given the chance to compete in those points-scoring races.
Alex explained, “Although I achieved the qualifying time later in the season, the lack of earlier ranking opportunities ultimately meant I did not secure a place on the start line in Tokyo. Now that I have ran those times I will receive invites to these meets so thankfully it shouldn’t be a problem I face going forward”.
St Cronan’s Athletics Club was where Alex started her juvenile athletics career, her father Conor was among her coaches. A past pupil of Rice College, she is very appreciative to all those who have helped her along the way. “There has been a lot of people involved along the way from my start at six years old. There would be a lot of people to thank if I named them all but mostly my parents for their support and encouragement particularly when things looked very far out of reach and for the million hours of training they brought me to growing up and of course my coaches Mathew Yates and Barry Elwell and the group over in London”.
