Sarah Healy finished 10th in the World Championships 1,500 metres final which featured the all-conquering Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, who led from the gun to win in 3:52.15, with Healy clocking 3:59.14.
Kipyegon, unbeaten in the distance for four years, ensured the pace was fast from the start, passing 800m in 2:07.2, the field already strung out like beads on a string, with the 24-year-old Healy sitting in seventh as the bell approached.
Despite her best efforts to close ground on the backstretch, Healy was unable to make up places, a top-10 finish in the final still satisfying for the Dublin athlete after a long season for the European Indoor 3,000m champion.
Kipyegon’s teammate Dorcus Ewoi won silver in 3:54,92, Jessica Hull from Australia holding on for bronze in 3:55.16.
“I’m just tired. For the last 250 metres, I just didn’t have it today,” Healy said.
“I have my own theories about why that happened, it’s definitely something to learn from. Finishing 10th is great, better than last year. I’m obviously happy with the progress but I’d like to have a better day on the world final day next time.”
Meanwhile, Cian McPhillips and Mark English both displayed stunning composure to win their way through the uber competitive heats of the 800 metres on day four.
McPhillips produced the best run of his life, the 23-year-old from Longford winning the fourth of the seven heats in 1:44.91, affording himself a fist pump as he crossed the line, as well he might.
With only the top three in each heat progressing, plus three more non-fastest qualifiers, McPhillips was undaunted by the world-class experience of his opposition.
Sitting in fifth at the bell, passed in 52 seconds, he moved majestically up to third around the final bend, then kicked into the lead down the homestretch to get past Bryce Hoppel from the US, and Tyrice Taylor from Jamaica, who took second and third, as Peter Bol from Australia, who has run 1:42.55, faded to fourth.
“Yeah, delighted,” said McPhillips, paying special tribute to his long-time coach Joe Ryan. “A lot of hard work went into that, a great team behind me, made all the right decisions to get me here. And just thankful I could execute it, and get the job done.
“It’s pretty scary when you see your heat draw, and you’re in with 1:42, 1:43 guys, miles ahead of my season best. But thankfully I think I just came into shape at the right time, I’ve a great coaching set-up behind me, so I think we just made the right calls, at the right time, to make sure I was peaking for this.”
On his semi-final prospects, he added: “It’ll be the best quality race I’ve ever been in by a million miles. Only the top two going through is pretty ruthless in the 800m, but I’ll just do what I did there, throw myself into the mix, and see what happens.”
At 32, Donegal runner English has been enjoying the best season of his life and he finished third in his heat, also booking his place in Thursday’s semi-finals with something in reserve.
This was a much faster affair, as the field reached the bell in 51.76 seconds, but he kept his cool and moved into second down the homestretch, the win there going to Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi from Kenya in 1:45.06,
In the end English finished third in 1:45.13, with Italy’s Francesco Pernici nailing second just ahead of him in 1:45.11.
“I would have like to have held on to second, it was relatively quick through 400m,” admitted English. “Emmanuel Wanyonyi is Olympic champion, it was always going to be tough to beat him, but it was a good race. I’ll give it everything now for the semi-final on Thursday.”
McPhillips and English will be back inside the National Stadium for the 800m semi-finals on Thursday, set for 1.45pm Irish time, with every chance now of adding their name to the final list.
Ireland have never before had a finalist in the World Championship 800m, men or women. Only the top two in each of the three semi-finals, plus the two fastest non-qualifiers, will make that final showdown.
Heat three featured teen phenom Cooper Lutkenhaus, who ran 1:42.27 at age 16, to finish second in the US trials, but he couldn’t repeat that finishing speed here, in a slow-paced race, and ended seventh, clocking 1:47.68.
Ireland’s Sharlene Mawdsley shows the strain in the closing stages of her 400 semi-final at the World Championships in Tokyo. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
Sharlene Mawdsley went in the last of three 400m semi-finals, another race loaded with world-class runners including Sydney McLoughlin-Levrone, the Olympic champion and world record holder in the 400m hurdles from the US.
Starting in lane three, Mawdsley ran an excellent first 200m, still sitting in fifth coming into the homestretch, before fading in the last 50m to finish eighth in 51.22 seconds.
McLoughlin-Levrone took the win in 48.29, the fastest in the world this year, as only the top two in the three semi-finals, plus the two fastest none-qualifiers, made Thursday’s final. Mawdsley still has a third event to look forward to as she is part of the women’s 4x400m relay heats on Saturday.
In the end, all eight of the finalists ran sub-50 seconds.