Kieran O'Hara's love of running stronger than ever

Whether it is the London Athletics Meet or a local parkrun, Kieran O'Hara's love of running means he will be there. 

The 25-year-old middle distance specialist is in his third year on the Paralympic Futures Programme and his love for his sport has never been deeper.

In 2024 so far, O’Hara has represented England at the Loughborough Athletics Meet, won gold at the Bannister Mile in Oxford and finished third at the UK Athletics Championships in Manchester.

The most recent of his achievements happened at the London Stadium as a sold out crowd of 60,000 people flocked to see the London Athletics Meet, a curtain-raiser before the Olympics and Paralympics.

Finishing fifth with a season’s best time of 4:03.75 in the men’s 1500m ambulant race, O'Hara man was able to soak up the atmosphere on a showcase day for athletics in the United Kingdom.

“When I was doing my racing, I enjoyed the music and the racing,” O’Hara said.

“There were thousands of people there. They did massive rounds of applause. 

“I saw Laura Muir and Reece Prescod at the warm-up track.

“The time was 4:03, a season’s best, and last year I ran there and got a PB there last year.

“It must be somewhere I like to run.”

O’Hara’s introduction to athletics came thanks to his father. 

While coaching his son’s football team, he noticed that his son was much faster than the other children, so he took Kieran down to Havering AC. There has been no looking back ever since.

While Kieran might have reached the heights of the Diamond League in front of 60,000 people, his journey started thanks to strong foundations at grassroots level.

From day one, he has been coached by Pat Gahagan and has seen year-on-year improvements across their 10 year partnership.

“He’s very positive and very kind," O'Hara said.

"We went to Sweden for the Virtus Open European Championships and Pat was selected as one of the team coaches. 

“He really understands me and is a great coach.”

After enjoying success at the MENCAP National Championships, O’Hara established himself as a name to look out for with four gold medals at the 2016 National Junior Championships.

In the years since then, O’Hara has set the T20 English record for the 800m on two occasions.
That passion for the sport has never wavered.

At the start of 2024, he finished 13th overall in the London Winter Run and was a winner as part of a team in the Brentwood Half Marathon.

Regarded as a star of the future in a GB & NI jersey, the 25-year-old has his sights set on LA 2028.

“Maybe the Paralympics in four years’ time,” O’Hara said.

“It’s hard to think about what’s going on ahead. That’s what my coaches are aiming for. 

“I will be 29. That’s the age para athletes reach their peak.

“Los Angeles is quite far away, so I want to get my PB’s down in the meantime as well.”