Healy and Scott feature at World Indoor Championship Semi-Finals

It was a strong first day for Team Ireland at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade with 6 out of 11 individual Irish Athletes competing. Throughout the day, Team Ireland held their own as they competed against some of the world’s most talented athletes on the global stage. The highlight of the day came with Molly Scott and Phil Healy reaching semi-finals of their 60m and 400m respective events.  

Phil Healy (Bandon AC) reached the 400m semi-final at the 2018 World Indoor Championships, the only member of Team Ireland to do so that year. Since those 2018 World Indoor Championships Team Ireland has grown from a 5-person team to an 18-person team at this year's championships.  

At the 2022 World Indoor Championships Phil Healy came out in Heat 1 with an exemplary display of her experience by executing the perfect race plan, calm and composed with a well-timed surge to clock 51.75, cementing her place in the Women’s 400m Semi Final with a top spot win in the heat.  

After her heat Healy said, “I could have taken the second spot but if you're second you don't necessarily get a good lane for the semis, so I went for the win. I was comfortable sitting in at the bell and not letting others get ahead of me.... It's great to pull on the green every time to represent the country, so I'm looking forward to coming back out this evening.” 

Heading into the semi-final Healy’s heat win secured a lane 6 draw, beside her Shaunae Miller-Uibo from the Bahama’s. Healy came out of the blocks strong, as the race progressed the battle for position began. Healy came across the line sixth with a 52.40 time. At her post race catch up Healy highlighted “the joys of indoor running, it’s messy.” Shaunae Miller-Uibo from the Bahama’s and The Netherlands' Lieke Klaver progress with Poland’s Justyna Swiety-Ersetic progress to the World Indoor Championship finals.

There will be back to compete with the Irish Women's 4x400m on Sunday.   

At 9:29am Irish time, Molly Scott (St L O’Toole AC) took to heat 3 of the women’s 60m. The Carlow sprinter has had an incredible indoor season this year, breaking the national 60m record an incredible 5 times. At the World Indoor Championships Scott came out of the blocks to a fifth-place finish and a 7.26 time. At the start of this season Scott broke the Irish 60m record in a time of 7.23 beating Amy Foster’s 7.27 record. 7.26 allowed Scott to qualify for the semi-finals. Before her qualification was announced Scott told us “I know I’ve got faster in me.”  

And faster she was, coming 19th fastest female overall in the Women’s Semi-Finals with a 7.23 finishing 7th in her semi-final. Despite missing out on a Championship final place, Scott said “I’m coming back here in two years, three years' time and I know I can break 7 seconds one day.”  

Olympian Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock AC) came out of the blocks with an impressive start, leading the group heading into the final 200 metres. After a bumpy battle coming into the bend Becker crossed the line fifth in her Heat, with a time of 53.47, short for a semi-final qualification. The battle costed the Olympian half of a second. Coming into the Championships Becker had her sights set on a new PB which she was shy of, having ran 52.64 at the Irish Life National Senior Indoor Championships.  

Becker is set to return to  compete for the Irish women’s 4x400m relay on Sunday.  

From the heat Poland’s Justyna Swiety- Ersetic (52.37) and Great Britain's Jessie Knight (52.93) both went into the semi-finals against Phil Healy. 

21-year-old Olympian Sarah Healy (UCD AC) was in form heading into the World Indoor Championships 1500m heat. It was set to be great race as the U23 1500m Irish Record holder went up against experienced athletes such as Ethiopia’s Hirut Meshesha, USA’s Josette Norris and Mexico’s Alma Delia Cortes. With a hot pace from the very start Healy put in a strong performance, finishing in fifth with a time of 4:12.44, just outside the tough qualification standards for semi-finals. In her post race catch up the young Olympian reflected on “Lots of positive’s but definitely a lot of learnings.” 

Olympian Mark English (Finn Valley AC) took to the 800m. Canada’s Marco Arop and Andreas Kramer from Sweeden were among those also taking to the start line. English held a comfortable fourth place position from the offset before Hungarian Balázs Vindics came out to make a break for it over the finish line, seeing English cross the line fifth with a time of 1:51.35. 

Darragh McElhinney (UCD AC) made his debut at the World Indoor Championships in the Men’s 3000m. In the final heat of three the 21-year-old put in a compelling performance, matching pace, and maintaining position throughout a frustrating race, with many surges set by experienced runners such as semi-final qualifiers Great Britain’s Olympian Marc Scott and Kenyia's Olympian Daniel Simiu Ebenyo. McElhinney finished ninth with a time of 8:06.31. The European Silver U23 medallist shared his disappointment with the race but highlighted this “first senior championships, I’m looking to gain a bit of experience from it” in his post-race debrief.  

Competing for Ireland tomorrow will be:  

9:45am 60m Israel Olatunde  

10:40am 800m Siofra Cleirigh Buttner  

11:15am 1500m Andrew Coscoran & Luke McCann  

5:15pm 60m Hurdles Sarah Lavin  

Notes: 

Link to Live Stream

Link to Timetable & Results