Two years on from a breakthrough European silver in Rome, the 24-year-old has added a European title, a world bronze medal and a fresh string of personal bests to one of the more unusual family backgrounds in Spanish athletics.

When Athletics Weekly first spoke to Paul McGrath in the summer of 2024, he was a 22-year-old with a Scottish father, Irish grandparents and a Spanish mother, born and raised in Barcelona, who had just finished runner-up in the 20km race walk at the European Championships in Rome. Two years on, the "rising star" tag no longer really fits: McGrath has since become a European champion, a world medallist, and one of the most consistent 20km walkers on the planet.

The breakthrough came in May 2025, when McGrath won gold in the 20km race walk at the European Race Walking Team Championships in Poděbrady, setting a championship record of 1:18:05 to claim his first senior international title. Three months later, at his first World Championships, he went one better still: bronze in the 20km walk in Tokyo, clocking 1:18:45 to finish just two seconds behind China's Wang Zhaozhao. "A dream come true," McGrath said afterwards.

It was also a landmark moment for his sponsor, Joma, marking the first World Championship medal won by any athlete backed by the Spanish brand. He rounded off the year third overall in the World Athletics Race Walking Tour, behind only world champions Caio Bonfim and Evan Dunfee.

This year has brought further progress on the clock. McGrath lowered his half marathon walk best to 1:25:20 in May, and improved his 10,000m walk personal best to 38:23.52 in July — form that currently has him ranked fourth in the world for the 20km. His outright 20km best, 1:17:55, still dates back to February 2024, but with his championship pedigree now growing to match his speed, a first genuine assault on that mark may not be far away.

The family story that first drew AW to McGrath remains just as good a tale as it was in 2024. His father was born in Glasgow, giving him strong British connections that saw him visit the UK often as a child, while his grandparents were Irish and his mother is Spanish. Asked back then who he would support if Spain played Scotland at football, his answer summed up the dilemma neatly: "I'd hope for a draw."

He is equally used to explaining the two pronunciations of his own surname — "McGrah" in Scotland, but "McGrath," rhyming with "bath," in Spain. "I have Scottish and Irish blood, so I'm half Scottish, half Irish, half Spanish — or 33%!" he said at the time.

What has changed is the weight of achievement behind the charm. Rome 2024 now reads as the first step in a rapid rise rather than a standalone highlight: a European under-20 title in 2021, a world under-20 bronze the same year, a European under-23 title in 2023, Olympic experience at Paris 2024 and now a European senior title and a World Championship medal to go with it. Race walking's place on the international calendar means McGrath rarely gets the exposure of track's biggest names, but his results over the past 18 months put him among the most improved athletes in the sport, from any country, at any distance.

With road walking events forming part of the European Athletics Championships programme in Birmingham this month, British fans may get the chance to see for themselves just how far McGrath has come since that first conversation in Rome — a rising star back then, a genuine championship threat now.