NICOLA Tuthill will make a slightly later-than-usual start to her season at the European Throwing Cup in Nicosia this weekend.

An injury late last year meant the Kilbrittain hammer thrower missed five weeks of her winter training block, and she wasn’t ready to compete in the Dunboyne Winter Throws last month – this had been her opening competition of the season in previous years.

The good news is that Tuthill is back on track, and at the end of February logged her first full week of training with the 5kg hammer. She’s ready to push on.

‘It was around November that this issue first came up and then there were a few other niggly things after that, so I did miss quite a while,’ she explains.

‘It was a muscle where it attaches to my collarbone – it wasn’t a massive tear but it was in quite a vulnerable position for a hammer thrower. Every time I release the hammer is where I’d be putting it at risk of tearing further so we had to be very careful to make sure that it was healing before I went back and did anything too much.

‘Just recently, it was my first full week of training, and it was also my first time in 13 weeks throwing the heavier hammer – full throws, essentially.

‘But while I didn’t throw at all for five weeks, there were weeks after that where I was doing different things. My coach Killian (Barry) had me doing one-handed throws when I wasn’t allowed to throw with both arms. I was always training, just adapting.

‘Our initial training plan had to change, but it gave me an opportunity to focus a lot on technique. Both myself and Cillian are really happy with where I am at right now.’

Nicola with her gold medal in 2025.

Tuthill is itching to compete again. Her last competition was the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last September. The European Throwing Cup has been a happy hunting ground in recent years for the West Cork woman – after winning U23 silver in both 2023 and ’24, she catapulted the hammer to U23 gold in Nicosia last year. It was a history-making performance, as Tuthill became Ireland’s first-ever gold medallist in European Throwing Cup history. Returning to Cyprus this weekend brings a smile to her face.

‘It’s nice this year to have this competition as a season opener. The Throwing Cup is always a fun competition, and it will be warm too!’ she says.

‘Whereas I was U23 before, I’m in the senior category now so there will be a little less pressure – I'm a small fish in a big sea.

‘Coming back from the injury it will be nice to get out there and see where I’m at, then come home and get in that winter training that I missed earlier in the winter. The plan then is to taper off towards the summertime and hopefully results will start to move up.’

Tuthill, crowned 2025 West Cork Sports Star of the Year back in January, is known for her high standards. It’s one of the reasons that the 22-year-old UCD student has already impressed at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and last year’s World championships.

Her main target this year is the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham in mid-August, and because she already has the qualifying standard, the pressure is off.

‘It means I’m not under pressure to compete this year, so I have that bit of extra time that I’m able to get my training in a bit later,’ she explains.

‘I’m very lucky with the team around me who are making sure I do all the steps needed to get back to where I need to be.

‘In Cyprus I have my expectations in terms of where I’d like to see my distances be at, but when I haven’t competed yet it’s hard to know for definite where they are at. For me I want to put in a good performance that I’ll be happy with at the end of the day. I have a rough idea of where I should be based on training, and it’s been going quite well since I’ve got back.’

Amongst Tuthill’s 2025 highlights was her European U23 silver medal, followed by another silver at the World University Games, but those days are behind her – she has graduated into the ranks of a fully-fledged senior.

‘I am excited to be fully senior now, and this year it’s all senior for me,’ she says.

‘I'm lucky that in the past few years – Europeans in 2024, Paris in 2024, World Championships last year – that I’ve had those experiences and they help me set goals for myself of where I want to be.

‘I want to be able to go out there and perform at my best and I constantly have a goal that I’m looking for. At the senior championships you learn so much as well,’ Tuthill adds, as she looks to push her hammer further than ever before.