European 1,500 metres champion Ciara Mageean dies aged 34
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Bénin Web TV
Ciara Mageean, Ireland’s 2024 European 1,500 metres champion, died on 1 November at the age of 34 after bowel cancer was diagnosed in 2025. The runner had also won European bronze in 2016 and silver in 2022, according to her entourage and Athletics Ireland.
Irish 1,500 metres European champion Ciara Mageean died on Sunday 1 November at the age of 34, her entourage announced on social media. She died surrounded by her loved ones after being diagnosed with stage-four bowel cancer in May 2025.
Athletics Ireland, the Irish athletics federation, paid tribute to her and offered its condolences to her family. Originally from Portaferry, Northern Ireland, Mageean represented Ireland at the 2016 Rio and 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
She won the European 1,500 metres title in Rome in 2024 in 4 minutes 04.66 seconds, after taking bronze in 2016 and silver in 2022. She also won silver for Northern Ireland at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and finished fourth at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
An Achilles tendon injury forced her to withdraw from the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on the eve of her 1,500 metres heat. Her death comes after several years at the highest level, also marked by an ankle injury that kept her out of the 2012 London Games.
