PHIL Healy’s bid to qualify in three events for the Tokyo Olympics is right on track after a hectic nine days of action.
The West Cork woman turned in big performances in Belfast, Sweden and The Netherlands to boost her qualification points ahead of the cut-off at the end of the month.
Currently, Healy is in a strong position to compete in the 200m at Tokyo as she is well inside the Tokyo rankings, while she also helped the Irish mixed 4x400m relay team qualify for the Games and looks set to be named in that squad.
The Ballineen bullet (26) is also targeting qualification in the women’s 400m and her recent races leave her inside the top 56 in the world that automatically qualify for the Games.
At the Irish Milers meeting in Belfast on Saturday, May 29th, she clocked a new 400m PB of 51.50 that boosted her ranking points and was also just outside the automatic qualification time of 51.35. At the FBK Games in Hengelo, The Netherlands, last Sunday Healy finished fifth in the women’s 400m with a time of 52.58, and that will add to her ranking points too. In between her races in Belfast and The Netherlands Healy competed in a 200m at the Folksam Grand Prix meeting in Gothenburg on Wednesday, June 2nd, where she finished fourth in the 200m, her time was 23.65 while Britain’s Ama Pipi won in 23.40.
The Irish national senior championships will be held at Morton Stadium in Santry in late June and this will be another chance for Healy to pick up more valuable ranking points before the qualification period ends on June 29th.
