O'Sullivan leads golden 1-2 for Ireland as Coscoran smashes national record

IRISH 1-2: Sophie O'Sullivan and Sarah Lavin led an Irish 1-2 at the women's 1500m at the European U23 Championships in Finland. Pic: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

As days go, this was a truly special one for Irish athletics, with Sophie O’Sullivan, Sarah Healy and Andrew Coscoran taking 1500m running to a place it hasn’t been for a very long time.

O’Sullivan and Healy led an Irish 1-2 in the women’s 1500m at the European U-23 Championships in Espoo, Finland and just minutes later, at the Silesia Diamond League in Poland, Andrew Coscoran obliterated his own Irish 1500m record, clocking 3:30.42 to finish fourth behind Norway’s Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who set a European record of 3:27.14.

But let’s start with that remarkable race in Finland.

For so much of her burgeoning career, Sophie O’Sullivan has been followed around with the mantle of being ‘Sonia’s daughter’ but now, without question, the 22-year-old has written her own story, etching her name into the annals of Irish athletics by leading an astonishingly rare 1-2.

There is some precedent for this. Irishmen Peter O’Connor and Con Leahy won triple jump gold and silver at the 1906 Olympics in Athens, representing the UK, while John Flanagan and Matt McGrath, two of the ‘Irish whales’, went 1-2 in the hammer for their adopted nation, USA, at the 1908 Olympics in London. Frank O’Mara and Paul Donovan went 1-2 over 3000m at the 1987 World Indoors in Indianapolis while in 2005, Colin Costello and Danny Darcy did likewise over 1500m at the European U-20 Championships.

And now O’Sullivan and Healy are on that list.

Both were international medallists before, Healy winning European U-20 silver over 1500m in 2019 and double gold at the European U-18 Championships in 2018. O’Sullivan was born and raised in Melbourne and now studies at the University of Washington, where she’s coached by Maurica Powell. With dual nationality, she chose in her mid-teens to compete for Ireland, winning European U-18 silver in the green vest over 800m in 2018.

After some rocky years as they transitioned out of the underage ranks, both O’Sullivan and Healy have made their presence felt at senior level this year, hacking lumps off their 1500m bests, and now both have next month’s World Championships in Budapest, and the 2024 Olympics in Paris, firmly on the agenda.

Healy, as by far the fastest athlete on personal bests, was keen to make the final an honest race and the Dubliner went straight to the front, towing the field through 800m in a steady 2:17.78 before dropping a swift 63-second lap to test her rivals’ strength.

O’Sullivan, though, was tracking her every move, stalking the Dubliner around the final bend before unleashing a kick that was reminiscent of the one her mother used to win multiple global titles in the ’90s. O’Sullivan hit the line in a PB of 4:07.18, with Healy just behind in 4:07.36 and Britain’s Shannon Flockhart third in 4:08.37 – O’Sullivan’s last lap a vicious 61 seconds.

“It feels fantastic, I was second five years ago so it’s good to get the gold,” she said. “The big thing for me was staying as close as possible on the third lap as I tend to get distracted mid-race.” 

Healy wasn’t content with silver, a measure of her ambition and ability. “I’m disappointed, obviously,” she said. “I didn’t execute it the way I planned to, I wasn’t decisive enough. Coming in ranked number one, it’s disappointing to finish below that but if someone was to beat me, I’m glad it was Sophie. It’s special for Ireland to get two medals so I’m really glad to be part of that.” 

Elsewhere in Espoo, Cian McPhillips finished seventh in the men’s 800m final in 1:48.04, having thrown himself into contention on the first lap but his tank ran dry with 100 metres to run. “I went for it,” he said. “I knew I wasn’t really at the races on paper and if you asked me if I could make a final in January, I’d have grabbed it with both hands.” 

The Irish men’s 4x400m team of Callum Baird, Andrew Egan, Aaron Keane and Ciaran Carthy finished eighth in the final in 3:08.54, while Ruby Millet finished 11th in the long jump final with 6.09m. 

Earlier in the day, Abdel Laadjel finished a fine fourth in the 10,000m, clocking 29:23.33. “It’s a good performance, but it’s still a tough one to swallow,” said the Dubliner, a student at Providence College in Rhode Island. “I came in here wanting a medal and I believe I was in shape for a medal, but the last few weeks have been tough with training and trying to roll off the NCAA season.” 

Perhaps the best performance of all by an Irish athlete, though, came on the professional circuit as Andrew Coscoran clocked an astonishing 3:30.42 to finish fourth in a loaded 1500m field. The 27-year-old’s previous best was the Irish record of 3:32.68 he ran in Nice last month, but the Balbriggan man produced the run of his life in Silesia to smash that. His time puts him 13th in the world this year and more than three seconds of any athlete on the Irish all-time lists.

It capped a remarkable weekend for his coach Feidhlim Kelly and their Dublin Track Club training group. In Heusden, Belgium on Saturday, Brian Fay became the fastest Irishman of all time over 5000m, breaking Alistair Cragg’s national record by two seconds, clocking 13:01.40.

“I’m absolutely buzzing,” said Fay, who recently relocated back to Dublin after finishing his studies at the University of Washington. “I thought if I could break 13:20 I’d be happy. With a lap to go I was hurting, but I knew if I went sub-60 I could get a national record so I said, ‘f**k it, I’m going, I don’t care if I blow up. I’m giving it a go.’ It was the best performance of my life, by a good bit.”