Irish Athletics Represented in Geneva and Oregon: Phil Healy Dominates

Team Ireland represented in Geneva and Oregon saw our top athletes make waves on the international stage, demonstrating huge potential on the track for the upcoming season.
Phil Healy has been tearing up the track with a new record and personal bests in Santry and Geneva. In the past few days Ireland’s fastest woman continued her sensational form, setting a new personal best in both the 200m and 400m at the Geneva International meet on Saturday, 9th June.
Three days prior to this, Healy (Bandon AC) became the fastest woman in Irish history when she recorded a 100m time of 11.28 in Santry. She broke Allis McSweeney and Amy Foster’s record by 0.12 seconds. Not long after this, Healy set a new personal best time of 52.63 in the 400m at the event.
On Saturday, competing in the International Athletics meet in Geneva, part of the Europe Athlétisme Promotion Circuit, Healy competed yet again. The 23 year-old improved her 400m PB time from Santry to 52.19 in Switzerland, finishing second to Italian, Maria Benedicta Chigbou, who clocked 52.18. The current Irish record in the 400m is held by Joanne Cuddihy, set at 50.73.
In the 200m, Healy ran PB of 23.17, placing second to Ashleigh Nelson of Great Britain. This time moves Healy to number three on the Irish all-time list, with Sarah Reilly holding the fastest time of 23.02. It seems like it’s only a matter of time before Healy breaks this record too.
Healy has now set European Championships A standard times in the 100m, 200m and 400m. She will have a difficult decision to make as to which events to focus on for the upcoming Championships which take place in Berlin between August 7th - 12th. Healy’s early season form will give her a massive confidence boost as she’s hit her stride so early on. She’ll be looking to build on this for the rest of the season and we look forward to seeing what else she can do.
Also in Geneva, Cliodhna Manning (Kilkenny City Harriers) ran a personal best time of 53.15 in the 400m and at the same time set a European Championships B standard time. Following her second place finish in Belfast Milers Meet, UCD’s Alana Lally once again finished second in the 800m with a time of 2:04.79. UCD’s Sarah Lavin won the 100m hurdles in 13.63.
Across the globe, competing for the final time in her Villanova colours, Síofra Cléirigh Büttner ran a time of 2:05.73 to finish fourth at the prestigious American collegiate NCAA championships in Oregon. With this result, Síofra cemented her status as one of Ireland’s most decorated schools champions. She finishes off as a 7 time U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American, 8 time Penn Relay Champion and 10 time East Conference Champion. The final results were: