'This is phenomenal,' beams Phil Healy after Irish women's 4x400m relay team qualifies for Olympics

PHIL Healy is on course to become a two-time Olympian after helping the Irish women's 4x400m women's relay team qualify for the Paris Olympics this summer.

On a magical night for Irish athletics on Day One of the World Athletics Relays in Nassau in the Bahamas, both the Irish mixed and women’s 4x400m relay teams sealed their spots at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Both teams ran superb national records to win their heats and illustrated once again Ireland’s strength on the global relay stage.

A good night's work for Phil Healy and the Irish women's 4×400 relay team at the World Relays in the Bahamas, as they won their heat to qualify for the Olympics! And they smashed the national record too, running 3:24.38! pic.twitter.com/p6zetc404x

— Kieran McCarthy (@KieranMcC_SS) May 5, 2024

After watching the mixed 4x400m team which comprised of Cillin Greene (Galway City Harriers), Rhasidat Adeleke (Tallaght AC), Thomas Barr (Ferrybank AC) and Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) clock a time of 3:12.50 to win their heat, it was the turn of Ballineen Bullet Phil Healy and the women's 4x400m relay team to take to the track.

Adeleke and Mawdsley made a remarkable comeback 90 minutes after the mixed heats to help the women’s team to victory in 3:24.38, taking over one and a half seconds off the previous record. Mawdsley split under 51 seconds for the second time in the evening, while Adeleke was once again under 50 seconds. Stellar performances also from Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock AC) and Phil Healy (Bandon AC), who ran the third leg, allowed Ireland to storm to the win.

'This is phenomenal by the team,' Healy said, 'an Irish record by a second and a half, the girls to come back out after such a short turnaround and that's two teams qualified for Paris.

'We have three great subs back in warm-up, other girls that qualified the team to be here so it's super to see 400m running in Ireland go from strength to strength, both in the men's and the women's.

Both teams will now prepare for finals.