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Sarah Healy seals Diamond League top spot despite ninth-place finish in Silesia

Sarah Healy seals Diamond League top spot despite ninth-place finish in Silesia

The Irish Sun2 hours ago
Sarah Healy didn't need a podium finish to cement her place at the summit of the Diamond League standings
CLOUD NINE Sarah Healy seals Diamond League top spot despite ninth-place finish in Silesia
IRELAND'S Sarah Healy has secured top spot in the women's 1500m Wanda Diamond League standings.
And that is despite only finishing ninth in Saturday's race in Silesia.
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Sarah Healy still remains in top place in the Diamond League standings
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The UCD star heads the pack heading into the final meet of the series in Zurich
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The UCD star had already done enough to qualify for the Zurich final on 28 August - meaning she couldn't be caught at the summit.
There's over €25,000 up for grabs in the showpiece race.
World champion Gudaf Tsegay blitzed the field in Poland, setting a furious pace by going through 800m in under two minutes before storming home in 3:50.62.
Her triumph was just shy of Faith Kipyegon's 2023 world record of 3:49.11.
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Healy stayed in the pack throughout and crossed in 3:57.95 to cross the line in ninth.
Her time also meant that she was inside the automatic qualifying standard for next year's European Athletics Championships.
Elsewhere, Irish track and field stars Sharlene Mawdsley and Andrew Coscoran have found themselves caught in the fallout of Michael Johnson's 'Grand Slam Track' crisis.
The former US Olympic champions is facing a financial crisis - with $13million still owed to athletes.
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The bold new track and field league, launched this year by Olympic legend Johnson, promised huge prize pots and global exposure.
But just three meets into its debut season, after events in Kingston, Miami and Philadelphia - the final showpiece in Los Angeles was scrapped.
Inside Sharlene Mawdsley's 'delicious' yet atypical Tenerife holiday with GAA star boyfriend Mikey Breen
It's cancellation apparently has left athletes waiting for money they earned.
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Athlone edge Peamount United to achieve FAI Cup semi-final spot

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Athletics round-up: Sarah Healy maintains lead in Diamond League 1500m, as Pierre Murchan wins Frank Duffy 10 Mile
Athletics round-up: Sarah Healy maintains lead in Diamond League 1500m, as Pierre Murchan wins Frank Duffy 10 Mile

Irish Independent

time44 minutes ago

  • Irish Independent

Athletics round-up: Sarah Healy maintains lead in Diamond League 1500m, as Pierre Murchan wins Frank Duffy 10 Mile

Sarah Healy came home ninth in a loaded 1500m at the Diamond League in Silesia, Poland on Saturday afternoon – the Dubliner clocking 3:57.95 to continue a remarkably consistent season. 'It was an OK day for me,' said Healy, the reigning European Indoor champion over 3000m. 'Not amazing, not too bad.' Healy has run 3:57 in her last three 1500m races and looks capable of threatening Ciara Mageean's Irish record of 3:55.87 in her next outing at the Diamond League final in Zurich later this month. She ran in the middle of the pack in Silesia as Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay set a kamikaze pace out front, passing 800m in an astonishing 1:59 then holding on to win in 3:50.42. Kenya's Beatrice Chebet was second in 3:54.73 and Britain's Georgia Hunter Bell – who trains with Healy – third in 3:56.00. 'It was a really great race,' said Healy, who still leads the Diamond League standings over 1500m. 'We knew they were going out really fast at the start and I feel like I raced the first half very well and I just didn't really have the legs the last lap. I'm a little bit disappointed with the place. 'I just keep running 3:57 at the minute, but the season is going really well so far. Today was difficult, but I'll take a lot of learnings from it.' In the women's 3000m, Kenyan superstar Faith Kipyegon just missed the world record of 8:06.11, set by China's Wang Junxia in 1993, the three-time Olympic 1500m champion clocking 8:07.04. Norway's Karsten Warholm turned in a statement performance in the 400m hurdles, breaking the Diamond League record with 46.28, while Britain's Keely Hodgkinson made a superb comeback in her first race since the Paris Olympics, powering to victory over 800m in 1:54.74. Sarah Lavin was in action in Bern, Switzerland, the 10-time Irish 100m hurdles champion clocking 13.20 (-0.9m/s) in damp conditions to finish fourth, with victory going to Ditaji Kambundji in 12.66. In Leuven, Belgium, national champion Jack Raftery turned in another strong performance to finish fourth over 400m in 45.50, with Cillín Greene clocking 46.54, Andrew Egan running 47.59 and Chris O'Donnell clocking 47.59. Nick Griggs was the best of the Irish in the 1500m, clocking 3:37.64 to finish 12th. Meanwhile back in Dublin, Pierre Murchan of Dublin City Harriers took victory in the Irish Life Frank Duffy 10 Mile in the Phoenix Park, clocking 49:02 to beat defending champion Hugh Armstrong (49:45), with Stephen McAuley third in 50:55. In the women's race, Ann-Marie McGlynn (Strabane AC) continued her dominant run in the 2025 Irish Life Dublin Race Series, the reigning national marathon champion winning in a course record of 56:08. Caitlyn Harvey clocked 59:40 for second while Kate Purcell was third in 59:58. In other news, Listowel AC will host a tribute night next Saturday to Jerry Kiernan, with John Treacy and John Lenihan among the guests who will speak about the late, great distance runner and beloved coach and TV pundit. It will take place at 8pm in the Listowel Arms Hotel and admission is free, with the inaugural Jerry Kiernan 5K taking place the following morning around the roads of Kiernan's native town. 'I don't think Jerry got enough recognition for what he did as an athlete and a coach and we want to keep that memory alive,' said Kevin Lynch, chairperson of Listowel AC. 'He was a gentleman of a man. He had a lot of good friends down here and he was always loved by Listowel whenever he came down.'

Sarah Healy stays top of Diamond League 1500m standings
Sarah Healy stays top of Diamond League 1500m standings

The 42

timean hour ago

  • The 42

Sarah Healy stays top of Diamond League 1500m standings

IRELAND'S SARAH HEALY remains top of the 1500m standings in the Wanda Diamond League after a ninth-place finish in Silesia, Poland. The in-form UCD AC runner had already qualified for the final and now has 23 points, seven clear of Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay in second. Tsegay stormed to victory today in 3:50.62, a meet record and season's best. Kenya's Beatrice Chebet was next home in a personal best of 3:54.73, while Georgia Hunter Bell of Great Britain finished third in 3:56.00. A Meeting Record in the Women's 1500m! Gudaf Tsegay with a storming performance to run 3:50.62. 9th place for Sarah Healy who ran 3:57.95. — Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) August 16, 2025 Advertisement Healy clocked 3:57.95, also achieving automatic qualification for next year's European Athletics Championships. But the Dubliner's focus will be on the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich on 28 August, with a top prize of just over €25,000 on the line. Healy claimed her first-ever Diamond League victory in Rome in May, and ran a personal best (3:57.15) as she finished second in Paris in June. Elsewhere in Silesia today, Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson made a triumphant return to action as she ran a world-leading time in her first 800m since winning gold at the Paris Games last year. The 23-year-old — a training partner of Healy's — showed no sign of the lingering hamstring problems that had sidelined her for months as she clocked a meet record of 1:54.74 in hot and humid conditions in the Polish city of Chorzow. Kenya's Faith Kipyegon just missed out on the long-standing world record in the women's 3,000m. Six weeks after improving her own world 1500m record in Eugene, the three-time Olympic and four-time world gold medallist clocked 8:07.04 over the non-Olympic distance. That fell just short of the 8:06.11 world record set by China's Wang Junxia in 1993. And Jamaica's Kishane Thompson exacted a measure of revenge by beating Olympic champion Noah Lyles over 100m. It was the first time the two sprinters have met since Lyles was awarded Olympic gold in Paris a year ago, just five-thousandths of a second ahead of Thompson. The fast-starting Jamaican timed a joint meet record of 9.87 for victory, with Lyles second in 9.90. Another American, Kenny Bednarek, rounded out the podium in 9.96. - Additional reporting from – © AFP 2025

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