Kellie Harrington Returns for European Elite Championships 2026
Kellie Harrington is officially back in the thick of it.
The double Olympic champion has been named in Ireland’s team for the 2026 European Elite Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, running from 17-25 September – her first major benchmark event since that golden summer in Paris.
It caps a rapid, quietly ruthless return. Harrington walked away after the 2024 Games, only to reappear in December under the chandeliers of Dublin’s Mansion House, lacing up for an exhibition that signalled more than nostalgia. By January she had claimed a 12th national title. In June she topped the podium again, this time at the four nations tournament in Glasgow.
Now the stakes rise. Harrington has already admitted Los Angeles is on her radar. Sofia is where that long road starts to feel real.
Star power across the squad
Harrington is far from the only headline act.
Aoife O’Rourke, a double Olympian, reigning world champion and four-time continental champion, anchors the middleweights. Alongside her is sister Lisa O’Rourke, the 2022 world champion and 2025 world silver medallist, giving Ireland a rare one-two of proven pedigree in the same squad.
- Daina Moorehouse at 51kg
- Jenny Lehane at 54kg
- Jude Gallagher at 60kg
- Dean Clancy at 65kg
- Jack Marley at 90kg
- Michaela Walsh at 57kg, the Commonwealth Games silver medallist at that weight
Jon McConnell steps in at 70kg, adding depth to a stacked middle of the roster.
The line-up is rounded out by 2024 European champion Shannon Sweeney, world youth champion and European U23 bronze medallist Cliona D’Arcy, Evelyn Igharo at 70kg and Gavin Rafferty at 75kg. It is a group built not just on promise but on medals already banked.
High-intensity build-up
This is no smash-and-grab campaign. The squad has been in camp since July, grinding through the kind of long, repetitive days that sharpen timing and toughen resolve.
As a final push, Boxing Ireland will host a multi-nations sparring camp at the High Performance Unit at the Institute of Sport from 2-9 September. That week, with foreign styles and fresh problems in front of them, will tell plenty about who is ready to climb a podium and who is still chasing the pace.
The European Elite Championships, a World Boxing ranking event open to 33 federations, will hold its draw on 16 September. Names will go up, paths will be set, and the margins will shrink.
For Harrington, for the O’Rourkes, for a squad laced with Olympians and champions, Sofia is more than another tournament. It is a statement window in a new cycle. How loudly will Ireland knock this time?
