IF this was to be Phil Healy’s last European Athletics Indoor Championships, it wasn’t the send-off she would have hoped for.
The Bandon AC star travelled to Apeldoorn in The Netherlands as part of the Irish women’s 4x400m and mixed 4x400m relay teams that were hoping to be in contention for medals, but both came up short.
For Healy (30), she had suggested that these will be her last European Indoors – the next will be in 2027 – so was targeting a strong showing, but after a fifth-place finish in the mixed relay on Thursday, the Ballineen Bullet missed out on the women’s relay final on Sunday through illness.
In the 4x400m mixed final, Healy ran the second leg, taking the baton from 17-year-old Conor Kelly with the Irish team in sixth place. The West Cork athlete had to dig deep to keep Ireland in contention, and drawing on all her experience she handed the baton to Marcus Lawler with Ireland still in the mix, but with ground to make up. Sharlene Mawdsley ran a blistering final leg, with the fastest split of any woman in the race (49.93), as Ireland finished fifth in 3:17.63. The Netherlands (3:15.63) won gold, Belgium (3:16.19) took silver, with Great Britain & Northern Ireland (3:16.49) winning bronze.
‘This track is tight, and the home straight is short, so you do have to run wide to pass. It’s the first time out as a mixed relay team at these championships, and while we’re all a little disappointed, we’ll learn from it,’ Healy explained.
As illness forced Healy to miss the women’s 4x400m final, and Mawdsley out through injury, the Irish team of Rachel McCann, Lauren Cadden, Arlene Crossan and Cliodhna Manning finished sixth in 3:32.72.
