Sixth-place finishes for Healy and Coscoran at World Indoors

SIXTH PLACE: Sarah Healy and Andrew Coscoran finished in sixth place in their 3000m finals at the World Indoor Championships.

Even in an event like the 3000 metres, there is no real substitute for pure speed, and in the end Sarah Healy and Andrew Coscoran didn’t quite have enough of it to go with the world’s best in Nanjing, China, today.

Healy clocked 8:40.00 to finish sixth in the women’s 3000m final at the World Indoor Championships, a race won by Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu in 8:37.21, while Coscoran clocked 7:48.53 to also finish sixth in the men’s race, won by Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen in 7:46.09.

It was the best ever finish for both at a global championship.

“It was a pretty solid race for me,” said Healy. “I could have done a little better there but sixth is a solid result. I’m pretty happy with it, but it obviously leaves me hungry for more.” 

Coscoran reflected with pride on “a positive run”, having matched his finishing position in the European indoor 3000m final two weeks ago. “Obviously I’m going to be a little bit disappointed that I didn’t come top three but it was another positive run in the right direction,” he said. “I can’t be disappointed with sixth in the world.” 

In the women’s race, Hailu showed an impressive range of gears, clocking 28.70 for her final lap, to come home well clear of Shelby Houlihan, the US athlete who was running her first championship since returning from a four-year drugs ban. Australia’s Jessica Hull, the Olympic 1500m silver medallist, came home third in 8:38.28.

Healy threw herself into contention from the outset, slotting into fifth as Hull towed the field through 1000m in a controlled 2:53. The pace remained steady until the last two laps, at which point Healy found herself trapped in a box on the inside.

She soon escaped that and emptied the tank trying to match the medallists over the final lap but in the end, she just wasn’t able to go with them. It’s nonetheless been a breakthrough season for the 24-year-old Dubliner, who smashed Irish indoor records at 1500m and 3000m and won her first senior international medal when striking gold over 3000m at the European Indoors 13 days ago.

“I put myself in the right position from the start,” said Healy. “I expected the race to be a bit faster than it was. It ended up being a wind-up towards the end, but I was happy with my positioning through the first 2K. I put myself right in it and when the big move was made at three laps to go, I was a little bit too far back and had a lot to make up.” 

Coscoran and James Gormley were next up for the Irish in the men’s 3000m final, with Coscoran faring much the better. After a slow opening kilometre of 2:46, the Dubliner moved to the front at the halfway point as the pace continued to fluctuate, with 2000m reached in a sedate 5:22.

Coscoran was soon shuffled back in the pack and he tried to follow the move of Ingebrigtsen when the Norwegian powered to the front with just under three laps to run, but didn’t have the legs to go with him, Ingebrigtsen clocking a 54.42-second final 400m. Coscoran fought all the way to the line to secure sixth, putting the disappointment of the 1500m – where he was knocked out in yesterday’s heats – firmly behind him.

“I ran a nice, aggressive race, put myself in a good position,” said Coscoran. “With a couple of laps to go, I could have been more aggressive but with a little bit of fine-tuning, we’re in a really good place. I’m up being competitive in a world indoor final so we’ll move on positively from here to the next championships.” 

Up front, the race for gold boiled down to a thrilling head-to-head battle between Ingebrigtsen and Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi, who led as they turned for home but Ingebrigtsen maintained his composure, unleashing top gear in the straight to take victory in 7:46.09, with Aregawi just behind in 7:46.25.

Gormley came home 13th in 7:56.43 and said he was “shellshocked” by the experience. “The guys at this level take no prisoners and I’m not quite there, but I’ve just got to learn from it,” he said. “It’s a big step up from where I was last year and I didn’t expect to be here even two months ago. I thought I could get amongst it a bit more. It’s good to know what I have to do so I’ll take the lessons.” 

Sarah Lavin is the sole remaining Irish competitor at the championships, the Limerick athlete racing the heats of the 60m hurdles at 2:33am Irish time on Sunday morning.

World Indoor Championships: Live, BBC Two, Eurovision Sport 

Irish in action, Sunday (all times Irish) 

2:33am: Sarah Lavin, women’s 60m hurdles heats 

11.35am: *Sarah Lavin, women’s 60m hurdles semi-finals 

12:28pm: *Sarah Lavin, women’s 60m hurdles final *Pending qualification