Lauren Roy Omitted from Commonwealth Games Team
Lauren Roy will not represent Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow after being excluded from the athletics team.
When the Commonwealth Games commence in July, Northern Ireland's top sprinter will not compete in Glasgow. This is not due to injury or failure to meet qualifying times, but because she was not selected for Team NI.
Roy, who holds the Northern Ireland 200m record, is in her final year of college in the United States at Tarleton State and represented Ireland at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in March.
Athletics NI's selection policy requires athletes aiming to compete at the Commonwealth Games to participate in the 2025 or 2026 Northern Ireland & Ulster Senior Championships. However, when the policy was published in June 2025, the dates for these championships had not been announced.
When the dates were released earlier this year, the Northern Ireland Championships directly conflicted with the NCAA Division One Championships, the premier collegiate athletics event in the USA.
Roy, aged 25, chose to compete in Oregon at the NCAA event, which ultimately led to her exclusion from the five-member athletics team.
Despite appeals to Athletics NI regarding her situation, Roy feels she has been "punished for being in a very good set-up" and for seeking to improve by relocating to Texas.
"I'm absolutely blessed to be here, with my amazing support team," Roy told NI's Nigel Ringland.
"But it's almost like I'm being punished for performing well over here, by not being able to compete for my country as one of the fastest people.
Although no one's directly said that, that's exactly how it's portrayed via this whole selection policy."
When contacted by , Team NI stated it could not consider Roy for selection as she was not nominated by Athletics NI, who have yet to respond to requests for comment.
Financial Implications
The release of the Northern Ireland & Ulster Championships dates earlier this year revealed a clash with the NCAA Division One Championships, which had already scheduled its 2025 edition for August, two months after the policy was published. Roy was in the USA at that time.
Roy requested an exemption from Athletics NI but it was denied, rendering her ineligible for selection. She described the governing body as "pretty stubborn."
"It's pretty typical within other policies, where there are standards that if you're competing at a high enough level, you can essentially request a pass from the championships from the Northern Ireland champs to still be eligible to be selected," she explained.
Considering Roy's 2026 performances, her season-best 200m time of 22.83 seconds would have been sufficient to place fourth at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Roy stated she "did see it coming" and had hoped Athletics NI would show some flexibility, but was told "the policy is the policy."
"I totally get the policy is the policy. But the policy was also produced insufficiently, there were no dates given besides the Northern Ireland Championships, which is pretty standard with other policies.
If you're going to say that an athlete is required to compete somewhere, you're required to give dates and specific times for when the athlete needs to be available for that, especially when it comes to elite world class athletes like myself, who do live on the other side of the world and do compete on a totally different schedule compared to most athletes."
Roy estimated that returning to Northern Ireland for the national championships and Commonwealth Games could cost her approximately £5,000.
Additionally, competing in Northern Ireland would have impacted her commitments in the USA. As she is in the final year of her Master's degree, her athletics funding is provided by her university, which supports her studies and competitions.
"In order to keep my scholarship in the USA and continue with my education, I'm required to compete at every meet for my school that I qualify for.
I am supported financially solely by my university up until I finished competing for them.
So things like being tied into housing leases, I would not be able to pay for my housing and they would have had to unfortunately cut my funding.
As an unsupported athlete, I obviously can't cover that. I would have had to give up my Masters' degree."
Stressful Process and Future Plans
Roy described the situation as a "stressful process" and considered appealing the decision. She contacted Team NI to express that the selection policy was "unfair" and "not equal for everyone."
The £200 fee required to file an official appeal was another obstacle, and Athletics NI maintained their position.
"I was not in a position to pay £200 to appeal something that they would perhaps turn around and tell me the same thing."
Following her exclusion from the Glasgow Games, Roy plans to focus on the European Athletics Championships in August, the World Championships in 2027, and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.
"I'm at the peak of my career essentially between now and the next three or four years," she said.
"If there was ever a time for me to potentially medal at Commonwealth Games, it was now.
To compete for Northern Ireland, it's always been an honour. It's something that I've done since I was 15-years-old, so I'm really, really disappointed that I can't go and put on a show for Northern Ireland this year."
