Karen Shinkins (born 15 October 1976 in Newbridge, County Kildare) is a retired Irish sprinter who specialised in the 400 metres.^[1] She represented her country at the 2000 Summer Olympics, as well as four consecutive World Championships, starting in 1999.^{[citation needed]}

She has personal bests of 51.07 (1999) outdoors and 51.58 indoors (2002). The latter is still the national record.^{[citation needed]}

Competition record

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Ireland
1994	World Junior Championships	Lisbon, Portugal	30th (qf)	200 m	25.20 (wind: +0.8 m/s)
1998	European Indoor Championships	Valencia, Spain	11th (h)	400 m	53.45
1999	Universiade	Palma de Mallorca, Spain	4th	400 m	51.07
	World Championships	Seville, Spain	25th (qf)	400 m	52.08
2000	European Indoor Championships	Ghent, Belgium	4th	400 m	53.15
	Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	34th (h)	400 m	53.27
			16th (h)	4x400 m relay	3:32.24
2001	World Indoor Championships	Lisbon, Portugal	18th (h)	400 m	53.90
	World Championships	Edmonton, Canada	15th (sf)	400 m	51.66
2002	European Indoor Championships	Vienna, Austria	3rd	400 m	52.17
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	11th (h)	400 m	52.50
2003	World Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	16th (h)	400 m	53.59
	World Championships	Paris, France	23rd (sf)	400 m	52.74
2004	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	22nd (h)	400 m	54.37
			9th (h)	4x400 m relay	3:34.61
2005	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	19th (sf)	400 m	52.17