Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan closed Ireland’s European Championships with two top-eight finishes in the women’s 1500m final.
Healy finished fifth in 4:10.76, adding another strong result to the fourth place she had already secured in the 5000m earlier in the championships. O’Sullivan crossed eighth in 4:11.72, giving Ireland two athletes inside the European top eight in one of the deepest events of the week.
Georgia Hunter Bell won gold for Great Britain in 4:07.78, with Poland’s Klaudia Kazimierska taking silver in 4:08.80 and Portugal’s Patricia Silva bronze in 4:09.22. Hunter Bell closed the race with a 58.44 final 400m to pull clear, according to The Guardian’s report from Birmingham.
For Healy, the final brought another near miss and another piece of evidence that she is now a serious presence in European championship finals. Fourth in the 5000m. Fifth in the 1500m. Two final appearances. Two performances close to the medals.
“Fifth is fine,” Healy told RTÉ Sport afterwards. “I pretty much did what I wanted to do, but there was a bit of a gap and I just wasn’t quite in the right position to get onto it.”
Her assessment was clear and hard on herself, as it often is. The race became physical and tactical, with jostling for position before the decisive move. Healy wanted to commit with 300m to go and felt she had done that, but the front group had already gained the space they needed.
“I think I positioned myself quite well throughout the race, maybe just not at that exact moment when the move was made,” she said. “The girls are so quick and once they got away, that was it.”
That tiny phrase, “that exact moment”, tends to decide 1500m finals. Healy was strong enough to be in the conversation. The medal move happened just far enough away from her to end it.
Her week still stands. Healy has had a challenging season by her own admission, yet leaves Birmingham with fourth in the 5000m and fifth in the 1500m.
“I’ve done a lot this week,” she said. “I’m definitely not satisfied, but fourth in the 5000m and fifth in the 1500m is decent. This year has been challenging for me, so I’m proud of myself for getting here, but I’m not satisfied. It has clicked before and it will again.”
That is probably the right reading of it. Healy did not get the medal she wanted. She also finished fourth and fifth in Europe across two events in the same week. Her 5000m personal best earlier this summer, 14:48.88 at the Rome Diamond League, moved her to second on the Irish all-time list behind Sonia O’Sullivan and secured automatic qualification for Birmingham.
Birmingham did not bring the medal. It brought confirmation of level.
O’Sullivan’s eighth place matters too. She has already built her own championship record, winning European U23 1500m gold in 2023 ahead of Healy in an Irish one-two, before making her Olympic debut in Paris in 2024.
In Birmingham, she returned to a senior European final and finished eighth. That is a useful mark in a year where Ireland’s women were present across the programme, from sprints to throws, multi-events, middle distance and relays.
The wider picture is striking.
Kate O’Connor won European heptathlon gold with an Irish record of 6,751 points. Rhasidat Adeleke won 200m silver in an Irish record of 22.28. Healy finished fourth in the 5000m and fifth in the 1500m. Nicola Tuthill was fifth in the hammer. The women’s 4x100m relay team of Lucy-May Sleeman, Ciara Neville, Sarah Leahy and Lauren Roy broke the Irish record with 43.13 in the heats and went on to finish seventh in the final. O’Sullivan added another top-eight finish in the 1500m.
That is real spread. It shows Ireland’s women performing across event groups that once had little depth at this level.
Fionnuala McCormack’s championships ended with a rare DNF in the women’s marathon after she was forced to withdraw shortly after 10km. Finland’s Alisa Vainio won the European title in a championship record of 2:22:26.
The final Irish track act belonged to Healy and O’Sullivan.
One fifth. One eighth. Two Irish athletes in the European 1500m top eight.
Healy wanted more. That matters. The best athletes usually do. The medal did not come in Birmingham, but the championship gave her two more finals at the sharp end and another reminder that she is close enough for small moments to hurt.
O’Sullivan’s final added another piece to her senior progression.
