It just wasn’t to be this time, Sarah Healy falling short of winning another medal in the 3,000m at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, on Saturday.
In the suitably tense and intriguing 15-lap final, Healy stayed in contention from the gun, only to drop back into sixth place over the last lap, the gold medal won by Freweyni Hailu from Ethiopia, who kicked to the front at the bell to win in 8:37.21.
Healy never gave up the chase, with the 24-year-old from Dublin looking to add to the gold medal she won in the same event at the European Indoors in Apeldoorn just 13 days ago. Shelby Houlihan from the US also finished fast to win silver in 8:38.26, ahead of Jessica Hull from Australia, who took bronze in 8:38.28.
Healy came sixth in 8:40.00, just behind the other Ethiopian, Birke Haylom, still only 19, and World Junior champion in 2022. Her strong effort came less than 24 hours after Kate O’Connor ended Ireland’s 19-year wait to win a medal on the World Indoor stage, with her silver medal in the pentathlon.
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“I think it was a pretty solid race for me, I put myself in the right position from the start,” Healy said.
“I expected the race to be a little bit faster than it was, it ended up being kind of slow, and then just a big wind up towards the end.
“I was happy with my positioning at 2km, and put myself right in it, then when the big move was made, maybe with three laps to go, I was maybe a little bit too far back, and had a bit to make up, so I could have done a little better than that. At the same time, I think sixth is a pretty solid result for me, I’m pretty happy with it, but obviously it just leaves me hungry.”
The 15 laps boiled down to the last two: Hull, who last summer won the Olympic 1,500m silver medal in Paris, took up the front-running from the gun, keeping it steady but certainly not fast. Healy positioned herself in fifth, running relaxed and looking full of confidence. Hailu sat at the very back.
Just before halfway, passed in 4:25, Nozomi Tanaka from Japan took over the lead from Hull, Healy still sitting in fifth, as the pace further slowed, allowing Hailu to move up the field.
The lead runners started to bunch with two laps to go, the Ethiopian duo moving into contention. Houlihan finished fast to get past Hull, the US athlete just back from a four-year doping ban, during which she claimed she trained every day.
Hailu was the clear favourite, the 24-year-old winning the 1,500m at the last edition of the World Indoors in Glasgow, and the fastest in the world this year with her 8:19.98, more than five seconds faster than the rest.
Starting the fourth fastest among the final entries thanks to her Irish record of 8:30.79 set last month, Healy may ultimately be disappointed not to win another medal, but there’s no doubt her indoor season has been a great success.
An exceptionally talented and successful junior, Healy did not make her true senior breakthrough until Apeldoorn, as part of an unforgettable 36 minutes for Irish athletics when she took gold by winning the 3,000m straight after Mark English won bronze in the 800m, and just before O’Connor won bronze in the pentathlon.
In the men’s 3,000m final that followed in Nanjing on Saturday, Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran also finished in sixth place, that race won by the imperious Jakob Ingebrigtsen, his first World Indoor title, although he certainly did not have it all his own way.
Berihu Aregawi from Ethiopia was holding the front, and initially held of Ingebrigtsen’s attempt to kick past him. So the young Norwegian just bided his time, kicking again around the final bend to win in 7:46.09, Aregawi second in 7:46.25.
Coscoran did some front running around the halfway mark, just not enough to spread out the field, and despite falling back to ninth at one point, finished strongly again to nail sixth in 7:48.53. James Gormley finished 13th in 7:56.43. Ingebrigtsen is back on the track on Sunday looking to add the 1,500m title.
