Team Ireland were back in action again in the Olympic Stadium this morning. The Irish events started with Andrew Coscoran in the 1500m and Phil Healy in the 400m
Men’s 1500m Round 1 (Heat 1) – 01:27 – Andrew Coscoran
At just before 09:30 in a wet, rainy Tokyo, Coscoran lined up to take part in a fast competitive 1500m heat.
The Irishman came into this race ranked 40th in the world for this event. He had high hopes of qualifying for the semi-final but faced a star studded line-up.
He would need to challenge with the world number two, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and number four, Kenya’s Ronald Musagala. The top six finishers would qualify automatically and the next six fastest from the three heats.
Coscoran started his race fast and sat in seventh after the first lap, tucking into the inside lane. He is considered to run courageously with all his heart.
With 800m left he was in the middle of the pack. The 25-year-old has a very strong finish and as he heard to bell for the final lap, he produced a quick turn of pace.
In the final 100m he managed to overtake three more athletes and he finished the race in eighth. Although he was outside the outside automatic qualification but scored a very good time.
Team GB’s Jake Heyward finished the race in first while Ethiopa’s Teddese Lemi narrowly getting second.
Even though he was two seconds off his season best, the conditions proved tricky with three athletes not finishing the race.
Coscoran will now run in the semi-final on the morning of Wednesday, 5th August.
Andrew Coscoran…has done it!!!
His time of 3:37.11 in 8th place is good enough for a time qualifier spot – on to the Semi-finals!#TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/cJdhleOXhE
— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) August 3, 2021
Women’s 400m Round 1 (Heat 5) – 02:17 – Phil Healy
Less than an hour later and Phil Healy was at the starting line of her third event of the Olympics. She previously ran in the 4x400m mixed relay final and got a personal best in the 200m heats.
The track had dried up slightly as she prepared herself for what is one of her strongest events. She was ranked at 41st in the world before the start which put her as the fourth favourite.
The world number three, Jamaica’s Stephenie Ann McPherson was also in lane two.
Only the top three fastest in each race plus the six fastest of the six heats would qualify for the semi-finals tomorrow.
Healy started the race strong but started to look tired, this would be understandable as it was her fourth race of the week.
In the final 150m she pulled an amazing amount of energy out of nowhere to push into fourth place in a time of 51.98 seconds.
With one heat left to go the West Cork woman was in a the qualification places but it would come down to the wire. In the most dramatic fashion, Cyrus’ Eleni Artymata beat out Healy by seven one hundredths of a second in the final heat to take her place.
This is the second time in as many days that Healy has missed out on a semi-final by less than half a second but she remained in high spirits.
This is the end of her Olympic journey but she has made Irish history at this Games as well as her country proud.
🏃♀️ #Athletics
Phil Healy finishes heat five of the Women’s 400m in a time of 51:98, missing the semi by 0.07 sec, and one spot.
Her first #Olympics and she qualified for the Games in three events 👏 #Paris2024 is just around the corner.#TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/ktBeFA2fAU
— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) August 3, 2021
