BY JOHN WALSHE
A QUARTER of this year may already have passed but the honours still keep coming for Phil Healy following her exceptional track performances during the past 12 months.
Last Friday, in the company of family and friends, the Bandon athlete was honoured with the Cork City Sports Athletics Person of the Year for 2024.
Healy was the recipient of the monthly award for June where, as a member of the Irish 4x400m relay team, she gained a silver medal at the European Athletics Championships in Rome. The team set an Irish record of 3:22.71 but further glory awaited when two months later she and her teammates delivered a remarkable performance at the Paris Olympics to finish fourth, just an agonising 0.18 seconds away from bronze.
They did have the consolation of breaking their own national record with a time of 3:19.90, an achievement which underscored their competitiveness on the world stage and set a new benchmark for Irish relay teams.
This was the third occasion that Healy has been awarded the prestigious City Sports Annual award, having also been chosen in both 2018 and 2020.
Speaking after the ceremony, the now 30-year-old said it was a huge honour to be selected once again.
‘It’s a credit to the committee to have such an award, it’s one of the hardest to win so to be the overall winner is absolutely unbelievable,’ Healy said.
Saying 2024 was a very special year, the Ballineen native admitted that coming so close to a medal in Paris left bittersweet memories but achieving a new national record is something that can never be taken away from them.
‘To run 3:19 is absolutely world class, it’s the quickest time to not medal at an Olympics, and it would have won silver at every other Olympics,’ she said.
‘I suppose to be part of that history and to see what it did for Irish athletics and sport in general was a marvellous experience and a special time. For me, I’ve done a lot of individual performances throughout the years and have made Europeans, Worlds and Olympics but to be part of a team is definitely very special.
‘The team is constantly changing, six athletes went to the Europeans, but different people ran the heats in Rome compared to Paris. So we’re always constantly fighting for our spot, nothing is taken for granted. It’s great to see 400m running in Ireland go from strength to strength, we didn’t have that years ago.’
And with the 2025 outdoor season just getting underway, there is still plenty to aim for, as Healy admits.
‘I suppose for me Paris was always going to be the goal and I didn’t know what was going to happen afterwards. Mentally I thought it was my last Olympics but when we finished fourth it definitely spurs you on for the following year,’ Healy said.
‘It’s a very exciting year ahead, we go on to the World Relays in a couple weeks time in China and there we have to secure our spot for the World Championships later in September, which are in Tokyo. We also have European team championships and obviously we have our own individual performances to do so it’s an exciting time to be involved.’
