Ciara Mageean has described being compared to legendary Irish runner Sonia O'Sullivan as "an honour".
Mageean capped off an incredible 2019 on Thursday when she was crowned Irish Athlete of the Year.
The Portaferry runner was also named Track and Field Athlete of the Year in Dublin.
The double success came after Olympic silver medallist O'Sullivan was inducted into the Athletics Ireland Hall of Fame, on what was her 50th birthday.
“It does come along, but it’s such an honour to be compared to such an athlete,” Mageean told the Irish Times.
"I realise whenever people coin that phrase they mean it terms of endearment towards Sonia, and then that turns to me, and it’s such a huge privilege, because I was getting emotional up there just talking about Sonia, because I don’t think Irish people realise how lucky we are to have an athlete of that calibre, to be from our nation, in our realm.
“So to me to follow in her footsteps, maybe step in a few of them, is such an honour."
Mageean claimed a 1500m bronze medal at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March.
She set two Irish indoor records, and went on to reach the final at the World Championships in Doha, becoming only the second ever women’s finalist from Ireland after O’Sullivan in 1987.
She would finish 10th in that final in a time of 4:00.15, close to O’Sullivan’s Irish record of 3:58.85 set 25 years ago.
"Sonia trailed the path, and a blazing path it was, and if I can come closer to replicating some of the things she did I’ll be extremely honoured," Mageean added.
"And of course I’d love to get an Irish record, but I never see Sonia’s past performances as a burden, for me they’re definitely that little glowing star that I find motivating.”
Keep up-to-date with all the very latest news, what's on, sport and everything else in Belfast and beyond with the Belfast Live app.
Only select news that interests you by picking the topics you want to display on the app's homepage. Plus, our enhanced user experience includes live blogs, video, interactive maps and slick picture galleries. Download it now and get involved.
Click here to get it from the App Store or here for Google Play
