'Amazing' says Nicola Tuthill after being named Echo Sportswoman of the Year for 2025

Olympian Nicola Tuthill could hardly speak after she was named Echo Sportswoman of the Year for 2025 at The Metropole Hotel in front of her friends and family.

This followed a historic 12-months for the hammer thrower from Kilbrittain that included a gold medal at the European Throwing Cup at Nicosia in Cyprus and a third-place finish at the 2025 European Athletics Team Championships Second Division in June.

There was also an Irish U23 record at the Cork City Sports, which cemented her status as one of the most exciting names in Irish athletics.

Tuthill was selected as the 19th winner of the prestigious Echo Sportswoman of the Year title, where the most talented female athletes in Rebel county are recognised for their achievements.

“Amazing - it's such an honour to win a local award like this,” she was delighted with the latest trophy in her collection.

“There's so much talent in Cork at the moment, so I never expected it. It's such an honour.” 

Tuthill, who competed at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, is focusing on the year ahead and things are already shaping up for the hammer thrower as she gets ready to return to competitive action this spring.

“Hopefully March is when I'll open my season,” she looked ahead at 2026.

“I've been a bit injured, so I'm doing a lot of rehab and things to get back to where I should be right now. But hopefully the European Championships in March will be my season opener.

My last competition will probably be August, which will be my main one, the European Championships. So all the heavy training now, as I build into the summer.” 

#Tuthill will compete on multiple fronts, not that this makes any difference to an athlete that narrowly missed a bronze medal finish at the 2024 Olympic Games. The Kilbrittain native did that, and continues to operate, alongside her studies in science at University College Dublin, where she was named Sportsperson of the Year for 2025.

HECTIC

“It's a really busy week - I'm in college and on placement as well at the moment,” Tuthill explained about her schedule.

“So typically I'd go back to Dublin Sunday evening and then I'd do a gym session Monday and have some college. And then Tuesday I'm on placement for the day and I do some throwing and a bit of bike in the evening. My whole week goes like that.

“I come back to Cork on Thursday night usually and I'm in Cork then Friday, Saturday, Sunday with my coaches down here. So my training does vary. I could be training two hours some days, three or four other days, depending on whether it's a double session or not.

“And then if I have rehab and stuff, it just adds hours in there every now and then. But I love it, so I don't mind doing it.

The important thing is getting home, where she can practise on her own family farm in Kilbrittain.

“I train at home when I'm down in West Cork - my parents built me a cage out in the field in our farm,” she explained.

“So it's been such a massive help to me just to have that. When I do so much driving to and from Dublin to like, once I'm home, I'm home.

“Which is really, really nice. And then I either do my gym at home or I go into BFIT in Bandon to my coach. And then my trials coach will come out to my home cage at home, which is really nice.”