Phil Healy and Irish relay team into Olympic final after high drama in Tokyo

Fri, 30 Jul, 2021 - 13:30

Eamonn Murphy

BALLINEEN Bullet Phil Healy is through to an Olympic final.

The Irish quartet of Sophie Becker, Healy, Cillin Greene, Christopher O’Donnell have reached the Olympic mixed relay 4x400 after a dramatic evening at the track in Tokyo.

The Ireland 4x400 mixed relay team: Cillin Greene, Phil Healy, Sophie Becker and Christopher O'Donnell. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Initially crossing the line in fourth, the Irish team was promoted to third after Team USA was subsequently disqualified - giving Ireland an automatic place in the Olympic final.

"This is the Olympic games so just to qualify for a final is unbelievable," Healy told RTE after. "We shattered the national record we ran in order to qualify for here, we took four seconds off it. There's so much more in this team. I'm buzzing as much as the team are to be in the Olympic final."

Healy is also competing in the 200m and 400m events in Toyko, with the heats on Monday and Tuesday respectively.

The DQ came as one of the American runners took off too quickly before being handed the baton.