{"id":522573,"date":"2026-06-28T12:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T12:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/522573\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T12:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T12:18:14","slug":"in-the-selfishly-driven-world-of-track-phil-healy-was-the-consummate-team-player-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/522573\/","title":{"rendered":"In the selfishly driven world of track, Phil Healy was the consummate team player \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

As with any seminal moment in Irish sport there is always the danger that some of the power and the beauty has been exaggerated over time. That\u2019s not necessarily so in the years since Phil Healy<\/a> helped blaze the relay trail with such unforgettable levels of excitement, the likes of which we may never see again.<\/p>\n

If anything, Healy\u2019s were the sort of moments that will only get better with age \u2013 starting with the one where Healy came from \u201cthe depths of hell\u201d in an otherwise inconspicuous climax to the 2016 Irish Universities track and field championships in Santry. The perfect sporting blend of raw excitement and blissful innocence, Healy\u2019s anchor leg for UCC in the women\u2019s 4x400m relay that day still creates proper chills of excitement. Especially in this heatwave.<\/p>\n

Which might also explain why the original clip on YouTube has more than 3.5 million views … and counting.<\/p>\n

Healy wasn\u2019t within sight of the lead runners chasing down the backstretch and was still only fifth coming into the homestretch, before hauling herself over the line in first, delighting her UCC team-mates. In fairness, the hysterical race commentary by Cathal Dennehy, assisted by Ronan Duggan, elevated the madness, Dennehy describing Healy\u2019s late surge as coming from \u201cthe depths of hell\u201d \u2013 a poetic reference Dante himself would have been proud of.<\/p>\n

It was the giddy reminder among the many tributes to Healy after she announced her retirement from international athletics on Tuesday. A two-time Olympian, European relay bronze medallist, and once undisputed as Ireland\u2019s fastest woman over 100m and 200m, her commitment and dedication to the relay also helped set her apart. Especially when Irish relays were somewhat less fashionable.<\/p>\n

Healy was 21 at the time of the UCC relay leg, moving up to the 400m for the first time too. It certainly helped raise her profile \u2013 the clip ended up on Good Morning America and ESPN \u2013 but also it marked a significant turning point in Irish athletics history. With an athlete like Healy in a relay team, suddenly anything seemed possible.<\/p>\n

\"PhilPhil Healy passes the baton to Ireland team-mate Sophie Becker during the final of the mixed 4x400m relay at the Tokyo Olympics. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Fast-forward five years, and Healy was part of the Irish mixed 4x400m relay team that made the final at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics \u2013 a first for any Irish relay team. She also competed in two individual events in Tokyo, the 200m\/400m. But if the fresh possibilities of Irish relay running were beginning to shine, athletes still needed to buy into them.<\/p>\n

There were two further marks of relay progress. The women\u2019s 4x400m finished sixth at the 2022 European Championships in Munich, and the women\u2019s quartet then made the 4x400m final at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Healy, however, withdrew from Budapest, having originally been selected, realising herself that between illness and injury she was simply off her best.<\/p>\n

If a big part of relay running is being able to step up, it\u2019s also important to know when to step away. Healy understood that too. In the selfishly driven world of athletics, she was the consummate team player. She was respectful, too, in the way she\u2019d always show up at the National Championships, winning 17 senior titles in all.<\/p>\n

Growing up in the village of Ballineen, outside Bandon in Cork<\/a>, there were several other standout components of her career that came to light this week. Proof and a reminder of what is possible for an entirely home-produced athlete, with an essentially voluntary coaching set-up led by Shane McCormack, once the attitude and application is right.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Phil Healy: \u2018I didn\u2019t know if I would ever get back to where I was\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In an interview with this newspaper in February 2024, Healy admitted she\u2019d contemplated retirement \u201cmany times\u201d in the previous 18 months. Basic sprint sessions had become such a slog, her racing form so brutally inconsistent, it didn\u2019t seem like there was any easy way back, having also been diagnosed with the autoimmune disorder Hashimoto\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward another four months, and Healy was part of the Irish women\u2019s 4x400m that won silver at the European Championships in Rome. Truth is, they needed Healy back to her best. Then two months later, the same quartet finished just .18 of a second off Olympic bronze in Paris 2024.<\/p>\n

Of all the fourth-place finishes in Irish Olympic history \u2013 and remember there have been many \u2013 this was unquestionably among the least expected, the quartet of Sophie Becker<\/a>, Rhasidat Adeleke<\/a>, Healy and Sharlene Mawdsley<\/a> also taking three seconds off the Irish record. Part of the surprise was that they qualified for the final in the first place \u2013 without Adeleke remember \u2013 who had also finished a close fourth in the 400m final the night before.<\/p>\n

It could be a long time before another Irish relay team comes that close to winning an Olympic medal. That\u2019s not being deliberately pessimistic, but something about the way that quartet came together that night in Paris was unique \u2013 and certainly can\u2019t be easily planned for again.<\/p>\n

Because while Healy steps away, Mawdsley continues to step up in her individual aspirations. Last Sunday Mawdsley came within a few strides of winning the biggest 400m of her career when finishing second at the FBK Games. For the third time this season she also improved her 400m best, running 50.14 seconds, within clear reach now of the 50-second barrier.<\/p>\n

\"RhasidatRhasidat Adeleke and Phil Healy at the Paris Olympic Games 2024. Photograph: \u00a9INPHO\/Morgan Treacy <\/p>\n

That might well be broken this Sunday, when Mawdsley makes her Diamond League debut in Paris, lining up alongside the likes of Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic, who has run 47.98.<\/p>\n

Mawdsley turns 28 on August 10th, the same day the European Championships start in Birmingham, and her loyalties to the relay might be tested a bit more this time. If she makes the 400m final, and she is eminently capable, it\u2019s unlikely she\u2019ll race the heats of the 4x400m relay, which take place the day before.<\/p>\n

Adeleke\u2019s form remains unknown, although she is scheduled to have her first 400m race in over a year in Eugene next Saturday. If that goes well, she will also run the 400m at the Monaco Diamond League on July 10th.<\/p>\n

Healy, meanwhile, owes Irish relay running absolutely nothing, and although the future looks a little more uncertain without her, she\u2019s always been exemplary in showing the way. The baton is passed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As with any seminal moment in Irish sport there is always the danger that some of the power…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,41542,14329,20871,112],"class_list":["post-522573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-olympic-games","tag-rhasidat-adeleke","tag-sharlene-mawdsley","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}