Ireland’s European 1500m gold medallist and two-time Olympian has died of cancer at the age of 34.

Ciara Mageean, the Irish middle-distance star who won European 1500m gold in Rome in 2024, died on Sunday morning at the age of 34, 17 months after being diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer.

A statement on her social media accounts said: “At 6.30am this morning, Ciara lost her battle with cancer surrounded by her loved ones. A beloved daughter, sister, wife, friend and inspiration to so many, she will be deeply missed.”

Mageean, from Portaferry in County Down, married her long-term partner Thomas Moran in a small civil ceremony in Belfast last month.

She was an athlete who won admirers as much for her honesty and emotion as for her racing. Her finest hour came in Rome, where she was boxed in behind Britain’s Georgia Bell and Jemma Reekie before darting through a gap and powering down the home straight to win in 4:04.66. It was the first major title of her career, and she said afterwards that “words can’t even come close” to describing the feeling.

It came after a career of near-misses and heartache, which makes the victory all the more cherished. She started out as a camogie player with Portaferry GAC, but her dream of competing at the Olympics took her into athletics. She emerged as a prodigy, winning 1500m silver at the 2010 World Junior Championships and the 2011 European Junior Championships. At 18 she reached the 1500m final at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Her senior progress was slowed by a serious ankle injury that ended her hopes of competing at London 2012, and she had surgery in 2013. She returned to win the Irish 1500m title in July 2014 and claimed European bronze in Amsterdam in 2016, though her Olympic debut in Rio ended at the semi-final stage.

In late 2017 she left her Dublin base and her coach Jerry Kiernan to join Steve Vernon’s Team New Balance in Manchester. Results were inconsistent at first, but she took European Indoor bronze in 2019 and, in 2020, lowered Sonia O’Sullivan’s 27-year-old Irish 1000m record to 2:31.06 in Monaco. Another Olympic disappointment followed in Tokyo, where a calf injury ended her campaign in the heats.

Working with British Olympian Helen Clitheroe, Mageean enjoyed a breakthrough 2022. She took 1500m silver at both the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the European Championships in Munich, each time behind Laura Muir. Two weeks after Munich she beat Muir and a world-class field at the Diamond League in Brussels, clocking 3:56.63 to break O’Sullivan’s Irish record and run under four minutes for the first time.

She finished fourth at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, narrowly missing a medal, and that July took more than two seconds off O’Sullivan’s Irish mile record. She was named BBC Northern Ireland Sports Personality of the Year. By the end of her career she owned six Irish records.

In 2024 she was in the form of her life, but an Achilles injury forced her to withdraw from the Paris Olympics on the eve of her heat.

In May 2025 she went for what was expected to be a precautionary scan while recovering from ankle surgery. It revealed a five-centimetre tumour. Further scans showed the cancer had spread to her liver, lungs and lymph nodes. “In that moment, my world completely changed,” she told Athletics Weekly in July.

She went public that summer and was met with an outpouring of support, with hundreds of cards arriving at her parents’ door, including one from a young girl addressed simply to “Ciara Mageean, Portaferry, County Down, Ireland”.

She underwent 18 courses of chemotherapy, and spoke frankly about how hard the treatment was and about what the loss of her sport meant. “I’ll forever mourn the loss of the end of my career,” she said.

She also told how she had been looking forward to the LA 2028 Olympics and to giving back to the sport after retiring. For a time, she admitted, she couldn’t bring herself to watch athletics, but the support of the athletics community helped her reconnect with it.

Throughout, she remained grateful. “I’m so lucky to have had such an amazing career on the track,” she said. “The single greatest thing that I’ll take away from my career is the friends I’ve met along the way, and they’ve been there for me throughout this journey as well.” Even on the toughest days she held on to perspective. “I am very much making the most of every beautiful day that I have,” she said.

Athletics Ireland said: “Ciara was a much-loved and inspirational figure who touched the lives of so many. Her courage, warmth and spirit will leave a lasting legacy.”

Tributes came from across the sport. Laura Muir, her great rival, wrote: “So gutsy and brave both on and off the track. You always guaranteed a tough race but a very good laugh with it too. A very special gal, rest easy champ.”

Eilish McColgan called her “a remarkable person”, while Lynsey Sharp said: “What an incredible human. Your strength, positivity and determination will never be forgotten.”

Australian marathoner Izzi Batt-Doyle remembered “a beautiful person who fought until the end”.

Nadia Battocletti, Georgia Hunter Bell and Melissa Courtney-Bryant were also among the many to pay tribute, while World Athletics described her as “a fighter on and off the track”.

Mageean is survived by her husband Thomas, her parents and her sister Maire.