FEATURE: Getting to know Tipperary's latest and most promising athletics star

By Thomas Conway

Katie Bergin might not have featured at last week’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, but she lived every minute of the action from her home in the rural north Kilkenny countryside. The Moyne-Templetuohy sprinter - who lives in Galmoy but remains a dedicated Tipperary woman - was glued to the television screen.

She witnessed it all, from Ciara Mageean's valiant display in the 1,500 metres to Rhasidat Adeleke’s exploits in the 400. Rarely has an Irish team travelled to a World Championship with such lofty and enthusiastic ambitions. In the end, things didn’t all go to plan - we failed to bring home a medal but we did return with a message - Irish athletics is in good hands, and the future shines brighter than ever.

Naturally, Bergin had her eyes on the 100 and 200 metres, the two events in which the Moyne-Templetuohy woman herself specialises in. She observed the action unfolding with a mixture of curiosity and envy. Bergin was looking on when US sprinter Sha-carri Richardson scorched down the track to land the 100-metre gold, her speed sending sparks flying into the Hungarian night.

Richardson flew over the line in 10.65, with Jamaicans Shericka Jackson (10.72) and Shelley-Ann Fraser Price (10.77) in hot pursuit. Bergin is one of Richardson’s most ardent fans. She regards the 23 year-old American sprinter as somewhat of a role model - an inspiring emerging talent in a field of high quality elite level sprinters.

“I actually really like Sha’carri Richardson - she’s probably my main role model on the international stage. I just think she’s so cool. She’s a real character, really colourful. And aside from that, everyone kind of doubted her coming into that 100-metre final. She was out in lane nine, she seemed unlikely to win it, but then she went and did it, won the whole thing - which was so cool.”

As ever, watching these Championships felt like observing some kind of dramatic theatre production, with a cast of different characters from all corners of the globe and a plot which twisted and turned with every event. All the stars were there, from Norway’s superhuman Karsten Warholm to Jamaica’s long-time sprint sensation Shelley-Ann Fraser Price, whose luminous hair colour seems to mirror her flamboyant personality.

All the stars, in one place, in one arena, just as they will be in Paris exactly one year from now. Bergin makes no secret of it. This is where she wants to be. This is where her career is headed - competing on the greatest stage, alongside the greatest athletes. She doesn’t just want to be among them. She wants to be one of them.

But it wasn’t always this way. Bergin has only really emerged from the shadows within the space of the past twelve months. She has been in the game for years, running and racing since childhood, but never was she considered an outstanding talent or a potential national champion. The spark was certainly there, but the results weren’t. As a youngster she was a good, solid athlete, but never a childhood prodigy.

“So basically I started running during childhood - I think I was about ten years of age when I set out. You know, in primary school I was kind of like always one of the fast girls, I had some natural speed. But when I actually first began athletics, I started in a club in Kilkenny in Johnstown, and then I heard about Moyne, heard about how great their facilities were, so I transferred straight over.

"But my whole early athletic career wasn’t as successful as you might think. I’ve only really put myself on the map with my performances this year, so it has actually been a long time coming. It has kind of been a humbling experience. I kind of came from nowhere, came from being last, to now winning national titles.

"So it’s a nice story, it’s an underdogs story, in comparison to most of the bigger Irish athletes - the likes of Sharlene say, who has been top class since she was a very young age. My story is a bit different. I’ve only just made the breakthrough.”

National title

And the breakthrough has been nothing short of phenomenal. In 2022 Bergin landed her first national title - the 60 metres indoor at the All-Ireland championships in Dublin. This past year she’s just gone from strength to strength, knocking off another indoor title in the spring before coasting to success in the under-23 100 and 200 metres in Tullamore.

Throw in another national honour - the 200 metres in the National Championships in Santry in July, and it really has been a mesmerising season for the Moyne-Templetuohy woman. She didn’t see it coming, but she has taken it in her stride, embracing her newfound profile as one of Ireland’s most auspicious young and emerging talents.

So how did she get here - from childhood nobody to national champion? The answer is multi-faceted, comprising a variety of different reasons, but much of them have to do with her coach, Martin Flynn. Flynn has been with Bergin since the age of 16, and in that time he has used his extensive knowledge and expertise to guide the 21-year-old towards the upper echelons of Irish sprinting. She has evolved into one of the most exciting sprint athletes in this country, but without Flynn’s input, and by extension the support of her two devoted parents, none of this would have been impossible.

Together, Bergin and her team have pieced together different parts of the jigsaw, investing in new forms of training and making little tweaks to her running technique. She has transformed herself from casual sprinter to athletics obsessive, engaging in precision-based training and shifting her mindset to think only of success. Elite-level athletics is a serious business, and Bergin is now a serious player.

“I think it was a mixture of everything to be honest. In the past year, I’ve kind of started to take athletics more seriously, so I’ve improved my nutrition and started working in the gym, And I’ve combined all that with more running on the track and more outdoor training. So there were all these small things, all these little elements, which just all came together and clicked for me this year. And I’m obviously hoping to develop them further in future years.”

Suffice it to say her training regime is rigorously planned, and incredibly intensive. In effect, Bergin trains six days a week - three sessions in the gym and three more out on the track.

She insists that it isn’t as gruelling as it looks. She enjoys the training, enjoys the strain for milliseconds, and thrives off the buzz of zipping down the track.

Sometimes she just likes to forget about it all and get out there and run, but in reality, 100 and 200-metre sprinting isn’t just about running fast.

They are perhaps the most technical, the most complex disciplines in track and field athletics. Bergin prefers the 200, loves shaping her body around the bend and producing that end-speed down the home straight. But she’s just as devoted to the shorter version.

The 400 is a battle for seconds, the 200 and the 100 are all about milliseconds. Both events are, in effect, precision based. Central to the art of sprinting is discipline and technique. Body positioning, posture and visual coordination are all critical.
Once you move into the higher echelons, these factors become more and more prominent, as Katie well knows.

“It’s such a technical event, the 100 metres in particular. It’s the most technical of the track events in my opinion. You only have eleven seconds to make it to the end line, so everything, from your technique to your posture to your form, everything has to be perfect. They all have to click on the day. And then you have your technique coming out of the blocks, you’re reaction time to the gun - they’re of major importance to any sprinter. And then there are other factors too. Simple things like the atmosphere in the venue, the number of people watching you. They can either drive you on further or they can upset you, depending on how you deal with them.”

Education and Athletics

The 21 year-old has just completed her undergraduate degree in IT Carlow and intends to move to Cork in the coming weeks to study for a masters in PE Teaching in UCC. She prioritises her studies and values her education, but athletics will continue to take centre stage. Her training group has already been selected and arranged. She’ll train in the Mardyke, alongside some of Ireland’s finest sprinting talents. Having access to high quality facilities and elite level training partners can only be beneficial, as Bergin well knows.

Right now, the future looks promising for the Moyne-Templetuohy starlet. She references inspirational figures like Newport’s Sharlene Mawdsley, who produced some of the performances of her life last week in Budapest. Mawdsley, Bergin observes, is only just entering her peak at the age of 25.

Hence, Bergin has time on her side. The next few years will, however, be critical. The Olympics isn’t on the agenda just yet, but make no mistake, it’s a future aspiration. Nobody is talking about Los Angeles 2028, but you can bet that it’s at the back of Bergin’s mind.

For now, she has other objectives, other priorities, and harbours hopes of producing another breakthrough season in 2024.

“I have a few short-term goals. The world relays are on next year, so I’d love to make the 4x100 metre senior panel.

“That’s always been like the dream, to make the panel. And I’m not too far off making it at the moment.

“I still have a bit to go but I’m getting closer. I’ll have to have a really good indoor season next year to be considered for that team - which would be amazing.

“And then in terms of my long-term goals, they would involve competing on the world stage, competing with an Irish vest at the big global meets.

“That’s the dream. That’s what I’m working towards.”