THE numbers don’t lie. Eoin O’Callaghan’s best year yet is reflected on the lengthy list of personal bests the rising Bandon AC decathlete has achieved in 2024.
Eoin set SIX new PBs, including an overall personal best, when he secured a top-ten finish in the decathlon at the European U18 Athletics Championships in Slovakia in July – the 17-year-old also smashed the Irish U18 record with his total of 7023 points.
His progression from last year to his impressive 2024 season, under the watchful eye of coach Frank Stam, suggests he is one to keep a close eye on. At the U18 Europeans Eoin set new PBs in the shot put (13.83m v 11.94m in 2023), 400m (50.23, compared to 56.17 in 2023), long jump (6.66m v 5.91m in 2023), 110m hurdles (14.55 v 15.32 in 2023), javelin (46.62m v 4150m in 2023) and pole vault (3.90m compared to his 2023 best of 3.10m).
The Hamilton High School fifth year student also set personal bests in the 100m (11.46), high jump (1.90m), 1500m (4:31.39) and discus (39.87m) this year too, as his remarkable rise continues, and acknowledged with a deserved West Cork Sports Star Paudie Palmer Youth quarterly award.
Eoin O’Callaghan with his Paudie Palmer Youth Award.
‘Basically, the decathlon is ten events, and you get a certain amount of points for each event. You start on day one with five events – the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m. On day two it’s 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and then the 1500 at the end,’ Eoin explained, as he was joined by his parents Deirdre and Ger, brothers Shane and David and proud grandparents Dan and Geraldine at the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery for the Paudie Palmer Youth award presentation.
Before the U18 Europeans Eoin had already racked up several impressive wins. He is the national U18 decathlon champion, and won the Irish U18 indoor heptathlon title with a national record earlier this year. Eoin also won U18 decathlon gold at the Somerset Combined Event Championship, and is the reigning Irish schools’ senior boys’ high jump champion. His trophy cabinet is already bulging, and given how he performed on the European stage this summer, the signs look positive. His goal was to break the U18 national record, and he delivered in Slovakia.
‘I knew I’d be able to hit the 7000 points, that was the goal for the whole year,’ Eoin said.
‘I was looking at getting over 7000 points, and even if I didn’t I was going to fall back on breaking the national record which was 6838, so I was delighted to get the new record (7023 points).
‘The biggest PBs I had there were the 400, which was at the end of the first day. The way I finished the first day was going to decide how I started the second day. It was over a one-second personal best and I was really happy with that. I started day two with a PB in the 110m hurdles and I wasn’t expecting to PB in that but I managed to pull it out on the day.’
Eoin’s next big competition is the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland in August 2025, but between now and then expect to hear a lot more about this latest rising star to emerge from Bandon Athletic Club.
Eoin O’Callaghan received a Paudie Palmer Youth quarterly award in recognition of his huge success in 2025, including smashing the Irish U18 decathlon record at the U18 European Championships.
