Portaferry buries Irish sprinter Ciara Mageean

The town of Portaferry in County Down gathered today to bury its most famous daughter.

Ciara Mageean, 34, died Sunday after a diagnosis of stage-four bowel cancer last year. Her funeral service is set for 2 p.m. at St Patrick's Church in her hometown. Family, friends, and members of the Irish sporting community are attending the ceremony.

Mageean represented Ireland at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. She held Irish records in the 800 meters, 1500 meters, and the mile. In 2024, she won the European Championship 1500 meters in Rome. That victory made her the second Irish athlete, after Sonia O'Sullivan, to win an individual European title.

Despite her illness, Mageean married Thomas Moran in County Louth just weeks before her death. President Catherine Connolly paid tribute to the athlete. Fellow Olympians Keely Hodgkinson and Dina Asher-Smith also offered condolences. Katie McCabe, captain of the Republic of Ireland women's football team, joined in remembering Mageean's career and life.

The service marks the end of a career that placed Mageean among Ireland's most celebrated middle-distance runners. She competed at two Olympics and set multiple national records before her death at 34.