Phil Healy leads Irish into athletic action in Belgrade

Bandon’s Phil Healy gets Irish interest underway at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade today and she, like the rest of the Irish team, will need to be at her best to advance past the first round.

Healy has been drawn in heat 1 with a favourable lane 5 but has to contend with a formidable opponent in Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic. Hejonova is the double, and reigning, 400m hurdles champion. She will be inside Healy in lane 2 and the Bandon athlete will have to pace her race to perfection.

Healy’s flat speed isn’t in doubt having run 7.31 seconds for the 60m this season — one-hundredth of a second outside the national record. It will be more a case of controlled speed for the Bandon athlete so she can last the gruelling 400m race — two laps indoors.