It’s easy to understand why Jack O’Leary likes to lean on some equine analogies when describing his own running career. National hunt racing is the sport that runs deepest in his family, providing him with some enduring lessons in riding out hard and staying the distance.Indeed if O’Leary wasn’t saddling up for the 10,000m at next week’s European Championships in Birmingham, he might well be working at Lynn Lodge Stud farm in Killucan, Co Westmeath, the family business operated by his parents Eddie and Wendy.Eddie is also the manager at Gigginstown House Stud, at nearby Delvin, owned by his brother and Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary. Together they’ve put Gigginstown on the international racing map, in the familiar maroon and white silks, with two Cheltenham Gold Cup winners in War Of Attrition and Don Cossack, and Aintree Grand National winners Rule The World and Tiger Roll.O’Leary doesn’t hesitate in admitting both his parents and uncle have been ardent influences and supporters of his running career. Although he does hold off on any aviation analogies, he did source one of his first jobs through his uncle, via his ties with trainer Gordon Elliott. Not that O’Leary himself has ever had it easy.“I used to work for Gordon Elliott riding out racehorses,” he says. “There was definitely a point where I was quite good at running, and was also working riding out in Gordon’s. This was when I was about 14 or 15 years old, and I suppose it was trying to decide what route I was going down.“I’d already run for Ireland at that point, so there was no question in my mind what route to take. But my dad is always using horse-racing analogies, and I know he’ll be in my ear now for the Europeans saying, ‘make sure you don’t give any of those lads any respect either’.“It’s nice that they can understand there are a lot of similarities in terms of training, and in terms of tactics and racing, between the horses and myself. So I have my own slogan that, ‘I was born to be a jockey, ended up being the horse.’ So yeah, it’s all horse racing, and then I have my own side gig with the running.Eddie O’Leary, trainer Gordon Elliott, Anita O’Leary and Michael O’Leary at Cheltenham in 2024 after a novices' hurdle win with Stellar Story. Photograph: Tom Maher “It’s a different sport, different jobs, different business, but I think the character traits shine through, that you have to work like a dog to get what you want in life. I think I’ve definitely picked up that mentality, through genetics, through my family. And I owe everything I have to them. And I just can’t wait to show it off now in Birmingham next week.”[ Seven Irish athletes to watch at the European Athletics ChampionshipsOpens in new window ]At 28, O’Leary is only now coming into his running prime. It’s 10 years since he wrapped up a highly successful schools career at Clongowes Wood, then headed off on a running scholarship to Iona, north of New York City. He did survive the tough demands of NCAA racing, before injury, illness, and over-training frequently derailed his career. He’s also struggled at times to find his ideal racing weight.Not that O’Leary ever gave up all hope or belief, his persistence was finally rewarded last December. At the European Cross-Country in Portugal, he battled through to finish fifth, leading the Irish men’s team to silver medals, a first podium finish in the race after a gap pf 25 years.Recalling that difficult journey, it’s clear just how important family support has been to him, so much so that O’Leary is briefly reduced to tears. His parents missed out on that trip to Portugal, as they were in Canada visiting his sister Jodie, but were still up at 3am to watch, and were the first to call him afterwards.“I think the tears there – and I don’t often cry; I can’t remember the last time I did, but it’s probably just reflecting on how hard things have been,” he says. “I’m not saying my time was harder than anyone else’s, but we all pour so much into something, and sport is unforgiving.“It doesn’t matter what your sob story is, or if you’re upset or happy, sport goes on and people run fast. And I suppose that’s both the beauty and the beast of sport. It’s been very, very difficult, but at the same time that makes the highs much more special.The Ireland team celebrate silver at the men's 2025 European Cross-Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal. From left, Brian Fay, Efrem Gidey, Cormac Dalton, Jack O’Leary and Darragh McElhinney. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho “Thinking back to that European podium, we’d all been on our own journeys, and that moment, celebrating with all your friends, with medals around your neck, I never envisioned in my career that I’d be standing on a European podium with an Irish team.“And that’s what I was getting a little emotional talking about, and that phone call afterwards from my parents was a really nice moment. Everything I have now is because of them.”O’Leary currently shares an apartment in Dublin, owned by his parents, with fellow distance runner Darragh McElhinney. They also share the same coach in Emmett Dunleavy, and with McElhinney running the 5,000m next Monday evening, they’ll share some tactics and insights before O’Leary races his 10,000m next Saturday, also a straight final. He ran 27:41 in qualifying, and that sort of time won’t be far off the podium.“I know I have a job to do, to run 25 laps as fast as I can, and try put it up to the best of Europe,” says O’Leary. “You’re dreaming of being in the middle of that 10k, and this is what it’s all come down to. I’m just buzzing for the opportunity to represent Ireland to the best of my ability.“But you’d be crazy to say there weren’t doubts, stuff going on the whole time, of whether you’d ever make it back to being a senior international athlete.“Like, I lost funding, everything. No fault of anyone’s, that’s just the way the world works. I wasn’t providing performances good enough to warrant any funding and stuff. But thankfully Mark Kenneally and Athletics Ireland have the National Endurance Group, which gave me plenty of opportunities to go train with the lads at altitude. Thankfully I got through that storm, and I have the Irish top back on me now.Jack O’Leary training this week for the European Championships. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho “I’d say across any sport, but especially athletics, everyone wants to do more, everyone wants to run faster, everyone wants to push harder. Running faster and pushing harder isn’t always the way. I think my biggest advice to any young athlete coming through the system would be making sure that you can stack days, weeks and years on top of each other.“For me, my biggest game-changer since coming back from America has really been the gym. My body wasn’t able to take the load of distance running that I was asking it to do. I’m now logging about 170, 180 kilometres a week, which, when I was in America, my body couldn’t withstand that load. I didn’t know why at the time, but it actually came down to the fact that I just wasn’t strong enough in the gym.“There were a lot of moving parts between the years of 2021 and 2024, but thankfully now I have the set-up, I know that I can be a world-class athlete while being based in Ireland. Which I’m quite proud of, to try and bring a world-class performance from home.”[ Sonia O'Sullivan: Sky’s the limit for several Irish medal hopes at the EuropeansOpens in new window ]Ultimately, he’s already building towards the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, most likely in the marathon. And while he does essentially consider himself a full-time athlete, he’s also happy to put in some hours back on the family stud whenever he can.“Coming from a farm, the kids are usually down on the ground working, mucking out stables. My mum and dad know well enough that I probably shouldn’t be mucking out stables, but I can do my bit in the office. Even for myself, it feels nice that I can give back to my family as well, just help out in any way I can in between training.”His parents will be in Birmingham next week, and he knows his uncle Michael will be tuning in too. He has always been one of the first to message him after every race.“He’s very, very clued in,” O’Leary says. “A lot of my family are very clued in, to be honest. They’re all absolutely buzzing to turn on the TV and watch it all next week.”