Sarah Healy and Sarah Lavin performed impressively at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku, Finland last night (13 June 2023).
Sarah Lavin just missed out on the bronze medal in the 100m hurdles final and finished fourth with a time of 12.94. Switzerland's 21-year-old Ditaji Kambundji bagged gold in the race.
“It was a very good heat run, a good start, and I was hoping to go a bit quicker in the final but my start wasn’t good,” said Lavin. “To have thrown out two 12.8s is good with two months to the (World) championship.”
Some solid performances from Irish athletes in Turku, Finland 🤩
✨ S. Healy - 1500m - 4.03.85 - 1️⃣
✨ S. Lavin - 100mH - 12.87 (Heat), 12.94 final - 4th
✨ T. Barr - 400mH - 49.82 - 5th
✨ M. English - 800m - 1.50.29 - 10th
Results ⬇️https://t.co/zqbC9YeQ4b pic.twitter.com/QIFtcJ2ZbJ— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) June 13, 2023
Sarah Healy earned a well-deserved gold in the 1500m, clocking a time of 4.03.85. The 22-year old Dubliner held back in the first three laps, before gearing up down the home straight to earn her first win at a continental Tour Gold meeting.
“It went out slower than I expected and I was behind the pacemaker, I wanted a nice even race but in the second half I just thought about winning it,” Healy said after the race. “I went for it with 300m to go and just hung on.”
The Olympic Federation of Ireland has named 44 athletes for the athletics team that will compete at the European Games in Chorzow, Poland, next week, which will incorporate the European Team Championships. Ireland will compete in division three from Tuesday to Thursday, and will include developmental as well as seasoned athletes, such as Sarah Lavin.
Paul McNamara, Athletics Ireland Director of High Performance, said: “The European Team Championships is an outstanding event with a novel team format that differentiates it from other major championships. It is akin to the European Cross Country Championships in that it provides a gauge of our standing in European Athletics.
“The format gives an opportunity to emerging athletes to compete alongside many of our very best, and all compete with the overall aim of team success. We find ourselves in Division three as a result of having skipped this event in 2021, due to Covid restrictions, and we have the sole aim of earning automatic promotion.”
