Sarah Healy smashes personal best to take third at Diamond League
She came home behind two Olympic medallists, with Kenya's Beatrice Chebet taking victory in 8:11.56, the second fastest time in history, and Italy's Nadia Battocletti outkicking Healy for second in 8:26.27.
Healy's time took over three seconds off her previous best and is behind only Sonia O'Sullivan's national record of 8:21.64 on the Irish all-time list.
'Third place in a Diamond League is not something that's easy to come by,' said Healy, who sliced through the field as the race progressed. 'I raced it really well. It was a little messy at the beginning but I fought back really well and reeled in a lot of girls by myself. More than the physical thing, you need confidence to do that.'
Healy has been in superb form all year, taking European Indoor gold over 3000m in March and finishing sixth in the world indoor final over the same distance. 'I'll go home after this to see my family quickly, then go back to Manchester to train then I have the Rome and Paris Diamond Leagues coming up in the 1500m,' she said.
Fellow Dubliner Cathal Doyle made his Diamond League debut in Rabat and the Paris Olympian fared well, opening his season with an eighth-place finish in 3:33.32, just outside his PB of 3:33.15.
'It was very scrappy for the first 800 and to run that fast in my first race out, I'm chuffed with that, I'll take it,' said Doyle. 'It's going well, we don't need to change anything now – just keep going.'
The Clonliffe Harrier was proud to have made the step up to the top tier of the professional circuit. 'This time last year I was just trying to get into a bronze meet in Brussels and now I'm in the Diamond League,' said Doyle. 'You can't really ask for much more than that.'
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