It has been a tough day on the track for Ireland as mixed relay star Phil Healy narrowly misses out in women’s 200m
In the early morning at 03:00 for Irish viewers, Healy stepped into Lane six. She came into the race ranked 41st in the world with the second fastest personal best in this event.
The favourite for this race was Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah. This was a fast heat that also had Team GB’s Beth Dobbin, Canada’s Crystal Emmanuel and Belgium’s Imke Vervaet.
Healy had already had a good warm-up for this competition as she was part of the historic 4x400m mixed relay team that reached the final on Saturday.
8th in the OLYMPIC FINAL 🤩🤩
Words can’t describe the feelings experienced in the last two days!The 1st Irish relay team to make an Olympic final!🙌🏻My Focus now moves to my individual campaign. First up is the 200m on Monday(from 2.30am Irish time🙈)before the 400m on Tuesday
😊 pic.twitter.com/ogCNOyng8A— Phil Healy (@philhealy2) July 31, 2021
The five runners lined up to start and the gun fired, over the short 200m, the race was very close and very fast.
Unfortunately for Healy, after running a great race, she finished in fifth only just behind her competitors.
Canada’s Emmanuel came home first with Britain’s Dobbin in second. Jamaica’s Thompson-Herah took the race casually but managed to get a qualification place in third.
A season’s best of 23.21 for Phil Healy in the women’s 200m heats as she finished in fifth, but not enough to qualify for semi-finals. pic.twitter.com/pYf3FNKv0Z
— Kieran McCarthy (@KieranMcC_SS) August 2, 2021
It is hard for Healy to be too disappointed as she ran a season best of 23.51. She finished less than half a second behind Emmanuel’s the first place time of 22.74.
In a race that she ran so well in, she was just unlucky that three other runners also ran season bests.
This race does not mean the end of Healy’s Olympic journey as she still has the women’s 400m heats tomorrow morning.
This is a race she will look forward to as her strongest event with a high chance of semi-final qualification.
Upcoming Athletics, Tuesday 3rd August
Men’s 1500m Round 1 (Heat 3) – 01:27 – Andrew Coscoran
Women’s 400m Round 1 (Heat 5) – 02:17 – Phil Healy
Men’s 200m Round 1 (Heat 6) – 03:45 – Marcus Lawlor
Men’s 200m Round 1 (Heat 7) – 03:53 – Leon Reid
