“She was so good already and if she doesn’t run well, it’s ‘Daniel is after ruining her.’ If you get her running really fast really early, you know what’s coming down the line - will she sustain that? “I felt I was on a hiding to nothing,” he says. She’d been coached to European Youth Olympic gold by Johnny Fox and was, at 16, one of the most special young talents in Irish athletics history. When he began working with Adeleke in 2018, Kilgallon was nervous. He coached Rhasidat Adeleke there from September 2018 to January 2021, nursing her through those key teenage years before she departed for the University of Texas, where she’s now coached by Edrick Floreal. He’s coached Israel Olatunde there for three years, developing him into the fastest Irishman of all time. He’s grateful for both, extremely so, but neither amounts to a living wage, the great irony being that the highest-level coaching he does - with his elite group in Tallaght - is all voluntary. It can get overwhelming and at the end of every season, you see it on a lot of coaches’ faces.” A lot of coaches wander around with guilt because we are affecting other areas of our life. “You’re here worrying about check marks - she has a full-time job and two kids. “You get upset because you feel bad,” he says.

He quickly apologises, the strength of feeling catching him off guard.

That was in 2009, and you can best believe he didn’t see it going this far, morphing into an exhausting, exhilarating, expensive endeavour, one that encroaches on his family life to such an extent that when Kilgallon puts on his running shoes, his two children often get a little sad, knowing dad is about to disappear (again) for the evening.Īt a hotel in Munich on Friday, Kilgallon choked up as he explained the toll it can take, the burden his wife Cliodhna has to carry. Photo: Morgan Treacy/INPHOĪfter moving to Dublin to work with Dublin VEC, he got to know those at Tallaght AC by dealing with their grant aid and when club coach Cecil Johnson learned of his background, he invited Kilgallon to get involved. Coach Daniel Kilgallon with Israeli Olatunde.

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