Lara Gillespie being crowned European champion on the track this year. The teenager has now been nominated for RTE Young Sportsperson of the Year.
Lara Gillespie has crowned a breakthrough year at international level by being nominated for the RTE Young Sportsperson of the Year Award.
The Co Wicklow teenager, who rides for Scott-Orwell, is among a list of 13 young sports stars under the age of 20 years nominated for the award.
The winner will be chosen by senior members of RTÉ Sport and announced live during the awards ceremony this Saturday, from 9.20pm, on RTÉ One.
Her nomination follows fellow Irish cyclists Dan Martin, Katie George-Dunlevy and Eve McCrystal being nominated for the elite sportsperson of 2019 award.
Gillespie is a young cyclist very much on the up. And while she dominated the youth ranks before this year, her best results have come since becoming a junior this season.
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She won the national elite cyclocross crown at the start of the year and the Irish junior road race title in June, among many wins this year.
But it was on the international stage that she really made her mark; claiming gold and silver at the European Track Championships.
Gillespie is the junior European points race champion and she also claimed silver in the individual pursuit.
She claimed the female rider of the year award at the recent Cycling Ireland annual prize giving.
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Getting ready to begin her TT effort at the World Road Championships in September.
And though she has excelled on road and track this year, her latest title came in cyclocross just last weekend when she was crowned elite Leinster champion.
Gillespie’s next major outing should be the U23 race at the World Cyclocross Championships early next year.
She faces some stiff competition to win the RTE award. But her inclusion among the nominees is a sure sign that she has made an impact beyond the cycling community.
Among those also nominated is teenage gymnast Rhys McClenaghan who won gold on the pommel horse at both the Commonwealth Games and European Championships this year.
Young jockey Donnacha O’Brien is also nominated after a season in which he took over 100 wins, including classics, and was named champion flat jockey.
Also on the list is Sarah Healy who won gold in the 3,000m and 1,500m at the U18 European athletics championships this year.
Fellow track and field star Rhasidat Adeleke, aged just 16 years, took U18 gold in the 200m at the same Europeans. And she helped Ireland to silver in the 4X100 metre relay at the U20 Worlds.
Young hurler of the year and All Ireland man of the match, Limerick’s Kyle Hayes, also makes the list.
And the young footballer of the year, Kerry’s David Clifford, makes the cut too for his exploits on the pitch.
As well as Lara Gillespie, the nominees are: Rhasidat Adeleke (athletics), David Clifford (Kerry football), Niamh Coyne (swimming), Seán McCarthy Crean (karate), Kyle Hayes (Limerick hurling), Sarah Healy (athletics), Sommer Lecky (athletics), Rhys McClenaghan (gymnastics), Daina Moorhouse (boxing), Donnacha O’Brien (jockey), Nicole Turner (swimming), Derbhla Rooney (boxing).
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