PHIL HEALY HAS made a glittering start at the European Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, winning her 400m heat and powering into tonight’s semi-final.
Ireland’s fastest woman was first home in 52.00, just 0.01 outside her recently-set lifetime best and all-time Irish record — and the fastest time recorded in the heats.
Controlled from start to finish, the Cork woman looked strong, comfortable and in fine fettle all the way through her opening race and her time, crucially, secures her a good lane for the semi-final.
26-year-old Healy had European 400m hurdles champion Lea Sprunger beside her for company at the start, but moved to dominate and finish strong, seeing off the challenge of second-placed Sprunger by over two seconds.
Phil Healy cruised into tonight's 400m semi-finals (Live on @RTE2 and @RTEplayer) by winning her heat in a time of 52.00, just .01 of a second off her PB #Torun2021 pic.twitter.com/z8X7WkC8Si
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 5, 2021
Sophie Becker, meanwhile, finished third in her heat with a time of 53.31, while Sharlene Mawdsley was fifth in hers, having been second at the bell.
With the top two qualifying automatically, Becker and Mawdsley missed out clocking one of the next four fastest times and taking that route to the semi-finals, so just Healy makes the cut.
Phil Healy the only Irish of the trio to go through in 400, with the fastest time and 0.01 off her lifetime best. #torun2021 pic.twitter.com/5wKcbLhDL4
— Will Downing (@WillDowningComm) March 5, 2021
Meanwhile in the women’s 800m heats, Nadia Power sealed a semi-final spot after holding strong to finish in second place in heat 5 after clocking 2:03:16.
Fourth place finishes for Georgie Hartigan and Síofra Cléirigh-Buttner in heat 6 and 3 respectively wasn’t enough to see them progress into the semi-finals.
Second fastest and sole Irish qualifier for @NadiaPower6 pic.twitter.com/RBolP7MP4R
— Ian O'Riordan (@ianoriordan) March 5, 2021
Attention will switch back to this evening’s 400m women’s semi-finals.
Mark English, Cian McPhillips and John Fitzsimons are all in action in the 800m heats later too, while Paul Robinson and Andrew Coscoran line out in the 1500m final after their exploits last night.
You can watch the action on RTÉ Player and BBC now, and live on RTÉ 2 this evening [6pm].
Here's the full schedule of the Irish athletes in action in Torun today. pic.twitter.com/wq6Z2kiXL8
— Cathal Dennehy (@Cathal_Dennehy) March 5, 2021
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