Bandon AC star Phil Healy targets Olympic relay qualification 

PHIL Healy’s ambition of becoming a two-time Olympian can take a giant step closer this weekend.

The Bandon AC star will compete at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas this weekend (May 4th–5th) with Olympic qualification up for grabs – and she views the relay as her best route to the Games in Paris this summer.

‘The relay is everyone’s ticket to Paris,’ Healy told the Star Sport Podcast earlier this year. 

‘Hopefully we can get the women’s 4x4 there this time. We were in Tokyo with the mixed relay so hopefully we can get there with both relays.’

At the Tokyo Olympics in 2023 Healy was part of the Irish mixed 4x400m relay team that competed in an Olympic final, and she wants to get back on the big stage this summer.

Healy was named on both the Irish mixed 4x400m and women’s 4x400m squads that will compete at the Thomas Robinson Stadium this weekend, as almost 800 athletes from 54 countries battle for Olympic qualification.

‘Fourteen of the 16 places in Paris will come from the World Relays so everything is to play for,’ Healy explained, so that is the Irish team’s target: to earn one of those 14 qualification spots.

On Day One of the competition eight teams in each event will seal their spot at the Games with the top two in each heat qualifying and advancing to the final on Day Two. The remaining 24 teams will go into the repechage on Day Two where again the top two teams in each of the three heats secure an Olympic berth. Finishing positions in the finals will help to determine lane draws at the Olympics.

The Ballineen woman was part of the Irish women’s 4x400m relay team – along with  Sophie Becker, Roisin Harrison and Sharlene Mawdsley – that finished fifth in the final at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March; that also marked Healy’s return to form after a challenging period. The team has been boosted by the inclusion of rising sprint superstar Rhasidat Adeleke who will be part of both mixed and women’s squads this weekend. 

The full Irish squad travelling to the World Relays is Rhasidat Adeleke (women’s 4x400m/mixed 4x400m), Sharlene Mawdsley (women’s 4x400m/mixed 4x400m), Phil Healy (women’s 4x400m/mixed 4x400m), Sophie Becker (women’s 4x400m/mixed 4x400m), Roisin Harrison (women’s 4x400m/mixed 4x400m), Lauren Cadden (women’s 4x400m/mixed 4x400m), Rachel McCann (women’s 4x400m/mixed 4x400m), Thomas Barr (mixed 4x400m), Cillín Greene (mixed 4x400m), Jack Raftery (mixed 4x400m) and Chris O’Donnell (mixed 4x400m).