Prof. Tom Comyns is a professor of strength and conditioning based at the University of Limerick. Tom is an Irish Olympian and competed in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, where he was part of the team that set a national record in the 4 x 100m relay, a record that subsequently stood for 25 years. In addition to the Olympics, Tom also competed as a sprinter in the World Athletics Championships and European Athletics Championships.
Since retiring from athletics in 2004, Tom has coached in high-performance sport, specifically in rugby as well as Olympic and Paralympic disciplines. He was a strength and conditioning coach with Munster Rugby and the IRFU from 2006 to 2012, working with some of Ireland’s leading players including Paul O’Connell, Keith Earls, and Ronan O’Gara.
From 2012 to 2015, Tom served as lead strength and conditioning coach with the Sport Ireland Institute, where he worked with numerous Irish Paralympic medallists. Since 2015, he has continued to support Irish Olympic and Paralympic athletes based in Limerick, including working with Tom Barr, who placed 4th in the Rio Olympics and was part of the European Mixed Relay Champion team in 2024.
Tom brings over 30 years of experience in high-performance sport, both as a competitor and coach. Alongside his applied work, he is also a world-leading researcher and lecturer in strength and conditioning, with expertise in injury monitoring and prevention. An award-winning teacher, Tom blends deep academic insight with real-world sporting experience. He is also the inaugural Chair of the Irish Sport and Exercise Sciences Association, a non-profit organisation representing the sport and exercise science profession in Ireland.
Lessons from High-Performance Sport
Tom shares his experience of both competing and working in high-performance across various sports, highlighting the key lessons that can be taken from these environments and applied across a range of settings, contexts, and industries.
The Role of Sport Science in Advancing Performance
In this talk, Tom outlines the major developments in sport science and how these innovations can enhance performance — not just in elite sport, but across diverse fields and high-performance environments.
Being Successful as Part of a Team
Throughout his career, Tom has worked within numerous high-functioning teams — from the record-breaking relay squad at the Sydney Olympics, to the support team behind Munster’s Champions Cup wins in 2006 and 2008, and teams supporting Ireland’s top Olympic and Paralympic athletes. In this talk, Tom shares key insights from these experiences and explores how they apply to team dynamics in business and beyond.
Lessons from the Olympic Games
Drawing on his own Olympic experience and his work with many Olympians and Paralympians, Tom discusses what it takes to prepare for, compete in, and succeed at the Games. He explores the mindset, preparation, and resilience required — and how these lessons can be applied in any high-pressure or competitive setting.
Leadership and Empowerment
Having led multi-disciplinary teams across both sport and academia, Tom explores the principles of effective leadership. He shares how to inspire, empower, and unite people around a common goal, drawing from real-world high-performance team experience.
Importance of Exercise and Activity to Health and Wellbeing
In this talk Tom draws on his extensive sport and exercise science knowledge and strength and conditioning experience and outlines the benefits of various forms of exercise within the workplace and what is needed within the workplace to support staff and employees to engage in activity, exercise and training to support their health and wellbeing.
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