Sarah Healy embraced the chaos to triumph after race plan had to be binned

“My race plan was to try have a smooth run which was the opposite of what I had in the end," said Sarah Healy after winning gold for Ireland in the 3000m at the European Indoors.

Sun, 09 Mar, 2025 - 19:43

Cathal Dennehy

Soon after she walked off the track in Apeldoorn, the tricolour draped around her shoulders, Sarah Healy looked out of the mixed zone and saw a very welcome sight looking back. Standing near a railing, patiently waiting, were her parents.

Once her interview duties were complete, with so many in the media wanting a word with the Dubliner, she darted out a gap in the railing and into her mother’s arms. It was about 20 seconds later before she came up for air.

They had always been there, her parents. Through the days when nerves left her mind frazzled, her body fried, her dreams shattered, on the biggest stages in sport. Days where she walked off the track trying, sometimes failing, to hold her emotions in check after a major championship flop.

This time, she swore, would be different. This time it was.

The thing about the championship cauldron? Before you step in it, you need Plan A and Plan B, maybe C and D too. Chaos will unfold. Something will go awry. The athlete you thought would take out the pace won’t end up doing it. One of your biggest rivals – on this occasion Maureen Koster of the Netherlands – will crash to the track in front of you, forcing you to jink deftly around like an NFL running back.

It’s all about embracing the madness, adjusting. Keeping calm and carrying on.

CHAOS: Ireland’s Sarah Healy narrowly avoids The Netherlands' Maureen Koster who falls on the bend during the 3000m final at the European Indoor Athletics Championships. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

“My race plan was to try have a smooth run which was the opposite of what I had in the end,” she laughed. “(Coach) Trevor (Painter) told me when I went out, ‘Just run smooth’, and oh my God, I was just dancing around the place the whole time. I was really lucky to stay on my feet.”

Going into this European Indoor 3000m final, Healy had a plan: to take the lead with two laps to run. But the championship Gods like to laugh in the face of all those with a plan. When she reached that point, the leading pack was still bunched together. And so she changed her mind. She decided to wait. To be the hunter and not the hunted.

“Everything felt really good, I just couldn’t find any space to move,” she said. “Nothing was opening up for me, so I just stayed very patient until the end.”

That, it turned out, was a brilliant decision. At two underage championships in the past – in European U-20 and European U-23 1500m finals – Healy had thrown the first punch and then watched, helpless, as a rival landed the knockout blow, coming over the top and out-kicking her in the home straight.

This time would be different.

And so she waited, coasting through the penultimate lap in third position, tracking race favourite Melissa Courtney-Bryant of Britain. Out front as they hit the bell was Marta Garcia of Spain, not renowned for her speed, and so Healy kept her eyes trained solely on an athlete who was: Courtney-Bryant.

Down the back straight, the Dubliner was still not off the bridle, still cantering full of running on the shoulder of the Brit. Still waiting. Courtney-Bryant went for broke on that last bend, knowing the home straight was only 25-30m, short enough to protect against attacks from behind. But as she turned into it, she stole a panicked glance over her shoulder, and was greeted with the unwelcome sight of Healy’s green vest.

That’s when Healy fully let rip, channelling everything she has learned, in body and mind, throughout her still fledgling career. All those reps in parks around the southside of Dublin alongside her former coach Eoghan Marnell. All those sessions alongside two Olympic medallists at her current training base in Wigan. All those coaching cues she’d been told over the years about holding her form, pumping her arms, when a distance runner like her has to try their hand at sprinting.

And it worked. She drew level with 15m to go, edged just in front with 10m to go, then launched her arms in the air within metres of crossing the line.

Sarah Healy: European Champion.

“It’s amazing, having so many Irish here and my parents as well,” she said. “They’ve consoled me so many times and all they want is for me to be happy. They don’t care about the result and they just supported me. I saw my training partners, my coaches, and they’ve all been such a huge part of it, along with my previous coach Eoghan.”

Those hard days had made victory all the sweeter, allowing Healy to banish in one fell swoop the championship demons that occasionally haunted her.

“I’ve been quite good at qualifying for championships, but I’ve underperformed and had some big disappointments and it means so much more when it comes together,” she said. “It’s so special. So special.”