It was another busy morning at the Olympic Stadium for Irish athletes, with Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy in action in the first round of the Women’s 1500m heats, while Phil Healy was in action in the heats of the Women’s 200m.
Mageean and Healy finished 10th and 11th respectively in their heats, but fell outside of the automatic qualification positions, with their times unfortunately not quick enough to take one of the six non-automatic spots. Mageean was just three spots away from qualifying with a time of 4:07.29 (27th), and Healy – 34th overall – with a time of 4:09.78 in her Olympic debut.
“I’m feeling disappointed to say the least,” said Mageean afterwards. “Anybody who’s seen me racing over the last number of years knows that I’m a tough competitor, I know I am, and whenever I put my Irish vest on I raise my game, and that was sub-par for me today.”
One of the youngest members of Team Ireland, Sarah Healy, was hoping for more from her heat, saying: “Everybody says that they’ll be back next time, but I’m here now, and I felt like I could make a semi-final if I ran to my potential. Obviously I want to be back for Paris but it’s not going to take away from the disappointment I have today.”
In her 200m Heat, Phil Healy produced a Season’s Best performance of 23.21 to finish 5th in her heat, which also featured recently-crowned 100m champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica. It was an impressive performance from the Cork athlete, following on from two fantastic relay performances at the weekend. Unfortunately, she finished just three places outside of a time qualifier position. She returns to the track tomorrow for round one of the 400m.
Speaking afterwards, Healy acknowledged that she didn’t have the luxury of fresh legs this morning, saying: “It is disappointing initially but I went out there and gave it my all, and it is a seasons best. I knew I was coming in in PB shape, but obviously there is going to be that fatigue factor with the two relay rounds before this.”
MORNING RESULTS DAY 10: AUGUST 2ND, 2021
ATHLETICS
Women’s 1500m, Heat: Ciara Mageean, 10th in heat in 4:07.29
Women’s 1500m, Heat: Sarah Healy, 11th in heat in 4:09.78
Women’s 200m, Heat: Phil Healy, 5th in heat in 23.21
DAY 10 SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES ARE IRISH TIME): August 2nd, 2021
*Schedule may be subject to change
07:00 Diving – Oliver Dingley – Men’s 3m Springboard Preliminary
09:00 Equestrian – Sarah Ennis, Austin O’Connor and Sam Watson – Eventing Jumping Team Final
