BY KIERAN McCARTHY
NICOLA Tuthill has thrown a long way in a short space of time. Before she left her teens behind her in December and turned 20, the Kilbrittain sportstar had already won nine national titles in the women’s hammer. Here we look at the numbers behind her rise to the top.
1 – As national senior champion, the Kilbrittain woman is number one in the women’s hammer throw in Ireland. She’s the best in the country. Nicola first won that title as a 16-year-old in 2020, and reclaimed it again in 2023.
2 – Before she left her teens behind her, and turned 20 in December, Nicola had already won two national senior titles (2020 and ’23), and she is also second on the Irish all-time list, with national record holder Eileen O’Keeffe (73.21m) the only woman ahead of her.
4 – When is finishing fourth, and just outside the medals, seen as progress? The answer: when you’re competing in your first European U23 Athletics Championships at 19 years of age and will be eligible again when these championships roll around in two years’ time. In July 2023, Nicola came an impressive fourth at the European U23s in Espoo, Finland, and was even in the bronze medal position for a spell. Her best effort was 66.43m, and it was more evidence that Nicola looks at home on the big stages; she’s not easily fazed. Roll on the 2025 Euro U23s. Also, four kilogrammes is how much the women’s hammer weighs.
8 – At the 2022 World Athletics U20 Championships in Colombia, Nicola finished eighth in the world in the hammer throw final, and this was notable for a number of reasons. Five months earlier she had dislocated and fractured her elbow at the European Throwing Cup in Portugal, but incredibly battled back to compete on the world stage. Not only did Nicola finish under one metre behind a podium position in the final, she also threw a personal best of 61.87m in the semi-final, further proof she could hold her own with the best in the world.
9 – This is how many national titles – between U16, U17, U19, U20, U23 and senior – that Nicola has already won, and all before she turned 20 in December.
16 – Nicola was only 16 years old when she won the Irish senior women’s hammer title for the first time; a sensational achievement for the then Coláiste na Toirbhirte student back in 2020. At the national championship she announced herself as a rising sports star to keep with her monstrous throw of 60.04m (her first time breaking 60 metres) good enough to win gold. It made the Irish athletics world sit up and take notice of the girl from Baurleigh who trains on a home-made throwing cage on her family dairy farm.
67.85 – The UCD student’s current personal best is 67.85m, thrown at the European team championships in Poland during the summer of 2023. This was significant for a number of reasons. One, it was her first senior international championship. Two, again Nicola stood out on the big stage, throwing further than she ever had before. Three, she was ultra consistent – Nicola’s PB heading to Poland was 66.57, but she threw over that mark four times during the competition (67.85, 66.85 and 67.06 twice). Four, this is also an Irish U23 national record, too. Nicola actually led the competition before Azerbaijan’s Hanna Skydan took over, but this was further sign the Kilbrittain woman is destined for bigger and better things.
70 – This is the next barrier that Nicola wants to break: throwing over 70 metres. Her current PB is 67.85m and the aim in 2024 is to throw further than ever before. A solid block of winter training can push her closer to this. Nicola says: ‘I want to put another couple of metres on my PB. Seventy would be a big milestone if I were to get over it, and it is definitely an aim to get over that mark, ideally in the season ahead.’ Given the jump she made in 2023, taking her PB from 61.87 to 67.85, it highlights her development, and what’s exciting is there’s more to come. If the Paris Olympics next summer comes too soon, then the 2028 Games will be a more realistic target. Watch this space.
