Latest news with #3000m
Irish Times
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Sarah Healy hits new heights, running PB to finish third in lightning-fast Diamond League meeting
Winning a European gold medal can do wonders for confidence and Sarah Healy has wasted no time in demonstrating that. In her first outdoor race of the summer, Healy improved her 3,000m best by almost four seconds when finishing an impressive third in the Diamond League in Rabat, Morocco , on Sunday night. The 24-year-old's time of 8:27.02 bettered the 8:30.79 she ran indoors in New York in February, a few weeks before she won the European Indoor title in Apeldoorn, Netherlands . The third-place finish in Rabat also came in arguably the fastest 3,000m of all-time. Kenya's Beatrice Chebet, the double Olympic champion, won in 8:11.56, ahead of Olympic silver medallist Nadia Battocletti from Italy, who outkicked Healy for second in 8:26.27. Chebet had already shown form before Rabat. The 25-year-old demolished a 5,000m field at the Xiamen Diamond League last month. Last summer, she broke the 10,000m world record before winning the 5,000m-10,000m double at the Paris Games. READ MORE For Healy, the nature of her run was as impressive as her time. She patiently worked her way up through the field, which had been strung out by Chebet's intention to chase a fast time. By the end, Healy had left nine top Ethiopians behind her and another Kenyan, Janeth Chepngetich. 'It was a little messy at the beginning, but I fought back really well and reeled in a lot of girls by myself,' Healy said. 'More than the physical thing, you need confidence to do that and I'm proud of that. Third place in a Diamond League is not something that's easy to come by. I raced it really well.' Chebet won by almost 15 seconds. Only China's Wang Junxia, with her world record of 8:06.11 from September, 1993, has ever run faster. That time has been much disputed since, including by Junxia herself. A month earlier, Junxia won the 3,000m at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, leading home a trio of Chinese women who relegated Sonia O'Sullivan, one of the pre-race favourites, into fourth. Junxia's 8:06.11 was then clocked in Beijing, among the series of sensational times by Chinese runners coached by Ma Junren that haven't been touched since. In early 2016, it emerged that Junxia had detailed the regime of state-sponsored doping in a letter to the South China Morning Post. Signed by nine teammates, all of whom claimed Junren forced then to take drugs, it remained unpublished for 19 years. World Athletics never took any action and all the Chinese women got to keep their medals from Stuttgart. [ Ciara Mageean: 'You do have to be selfish as an athlete, it's the part I find least enjoyable... But no regrets' Opens in new window ] [ Nike sorely misses spirit of the great Steve Prefontaine as running values tumble Opens in new window ] Healy will next turn her attention to her specialist outdoor distance, racing the 1,500m at the Diamond League in Rome on June 6th and then in Paris on June 20th. Her best stands at 3:57.46. In an Irish context, only Ciara Mageean's national record of 3:55.87 is faster. That could come under threat this summer. As could O'Sullivan's 3,000m record of 8:21.64, set in London in July, 1994. That time was, for many years, the fastest in the world clocked by any runner outside of China.
BBC News
10-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
DeBues-Stafford stars at Belfast Irish Milers Meet
Canada's two-time Olympian Gabriela DeBues-Stafford produced an outstanding performance at the Belfast Irish Milers Meet to win the women's 3,000m race in a time of 8: finished fifth in the 1500m final at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and holds six Canadian national outdoor and indoor records over distances ranging from 1500m to 29-year-old was paced through the first 800m but then had to run on her own the rest of the way and looked full of energy in the closing stages as she opened a gap of almost 200 metres on the battle for second athlete Ide Nic Dhomhnaill finished second in 9:12.63 after a close battle with Cork's Fiona Everand (9:13.38) at the Mary Peters Track. DeBues-Stafford will now set her sights on making her third World Championships in Tokyo later this year hoping to better her finish of sixth in the 2019 1500m final in Doha. The Belfast Irish Milers Meet is regarded as one of the best in Ireland but many of the regular visitors to the annual event were missing this year because of the clash with the World Relays in among the other notable performances, Cork's Darragh McElhinney won the men's 1500m in 3:37.86 which was just 0.14 outside of his personal best. Two-time Irish indoor champion, Katie Bergin, took the women's 200m in 24.35 while Sale Harriers runner Tess McHugh set a new personal best of 52.62 in winning the women's 400m. Ireland qualify for world mixed relay final A brilliant final leg from Sharlene Mawdsley helped Ireland qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo in August in the 4x400m mixed two places available in the heats at the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China, the Irish quartet of Conor Kelly, Rhasidat Adeleke, Cillin Greene and Mawdsley finished second behind the who took the bronze medal at these championships a year ago, were also the fourth fastest qualifiers for Sunday's race quickly turned into a battle between the USA, Poland and Ireland with Kelly, Adeleke and Greene putting Mawdsley in a position to challenge for second the home straight she passed the experienced Polish runner Justyna Swiety-Ersetic and comfortably held on to claim second behind the United Rachel McCann ran the third leg for Ireland in the women's 4x400m relay heats. Along with Sophie Becker, Lauren Cadden and Phil Healy, the Irish were third behind South Africa and Baird from Antrim was the second leg runner for an Irish men's 4x400m quartet that also included Chris O'Donnell, Marcus Lawler and Jack Raftery. They were sixth and last in their 4x400m squads will get a second opportunity to qualify for the World Championships on Sunday.
