Paul McNamara: Commercial world must tap into European Athletics medal success for Ireland

After Team Ireland brought home two gold and two silver medals from the European Championships, Athletics Ireland high performance lead Paul McNamara is now hoping the commercial world can tap into that success and invest more in it.

On Wednesday evening, the women's 4x400 relay team of Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy, Sharlene Mawdsley rounded off a successful championships for the Irish when winning silver, this after Adeleke's second in the 400m and the golds won by the 4x400m mixed relay team and Ciara Mageean in the 1500m.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport's David Gillick, McNamara summed up the week in Rome, when saying: "It's fantastic; it's really, really positive for the sport and everybody in it.

"We had a huge fanbase out here who really invested emotionally and financially in the sport and it's been rewarded here this week. A lot of Irish fans are very, very happy; our sport is on the crest of a wave."

.@irishathletics high performance lead Paul McNamara on his hope that the commercial world can get on board and tap into the success that was @earoma2024 #rtesport @DavidGillick pic.twitter.com/PblYGzsL90

In further praising the efforts of those who medalled, McNamara pointed to the high bar that must be met in terms of times and the satisfaction in exceeding the expectations that were set in advance of heading to the Italian capital.

"They had to produce them [those times] or they wouldn't have medalled, he added.

"In the women's 4x400m, sixth place was inside the existing Irish record. Had they not been on their A game they would not have got there. From a long way out we targeted two medals, as we got closer we looked at three medals, and then realistically we looked at four.

"All were executed and then further down