Commonwealth Games: Sprinter Lauren Roy feels ‘punished’ by Team NI omission

When the Commonwealth Games begin in July, Northern Ireland’s leading sprinter will not be taking to the starting blocks in Glasgow.

Not through injury or a lack of consideration times, but because she was not selected to represent Team NI.

Lauren Roy, who holds the Northern Ireland 200m record, is in her final year of college in the USA with Tarleton State, and represented Ireland at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in March.

But Athletics NI’s selection policy says athletes hoping to compete at the Commonwealth Games should compete at the 2025 or 2026 NI & Ulster Senior Championships, for which the dates were not released when the policy was published in June 2025.

When dates were released at the start of this year, the NI Championships directly clashed with the NCAA Division One Championships, the leading college athletics event in the USA.

The 25-year-old elected to race in Oregon, and that has ultimately led to her omission from the six-strong athletics team.

Despite appeals to Athletics NI over her case, Roy believes she has been “punished for being in a very good set-up” and for trying to better herself by moving to Texas.

“I’m absolutely blessed to be here, with my amazing support team,” Roy told BBC Sport 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 BBC Sport, Team NI said it could not consider Roy for selection as she was not nominated by Athletics NI, who have yet to respond to a request for comment.