Phil Healy is awarded the Cork City Sports Athletics Person of the Year award for a third time
Olympian Phil Healy of Bandon AC is the Cork City Sports Athlete of the Year for 2024, announced at The River Lee Hotel
For the third time since 2018, Bandon athlete Phil Healy has been awarded the Cork City Sports Athletics Person of the Year.
In a remarkable career which first saw Healy burst onto national prominence back in 2016 when a video of her coming from nowhere to win the final leg of the 4 x 400m relay at the Irish University Championships went viral around the world, it’s appropriate that it was two other relay performances – albeit on a much large stage – that saw her gain the 2024 overall honours.
Healy was the recipient of the monthly City Sports award for June where, as a member of the Irish 4 x 400m relay team, she gained a silver medal at the European Championships in Rome.
There the team, which included Rhasidat Adeleke, Sophie Becker and Sharlene Mawdsley, set an Irish record of 3:22.71.
But further glory awaited when two months later she and her teammates delivered a remarkable performance at the Paris Olympics to finish fourth, just an agonising 0.18 seconds away from bronze.
They did, however, have the consolation of breaking their own national record with a time of 3:19.90, an achievement which underscored their competitiveness on the world stage and set a new benchmark for Irish relay teams.
In the company of family and friends at the River Lee Hotel, the now 30-year-old said it was a such huge honour to be selected once again.
“It’s a credit to the [Cork City Sports] committee to have such an award and to acknowledge the obvious talent there is in Cork.
"It’s one of the hardest to win so to be the overall winner again is absolutely unbelievable.”
Saying 2024 was a very special year, the Ballineen native admitted that coming so close to a medal in Paris left bittersweet memories, but achieving a new national record is something that can never be taken away from them.
“To run 3:19 is absolutely world class, it’s the quickest time to not medal at an Olympics, and it would have won silver at every other Olympics.
“I suppose to be part of that history and to see what it did for Irish athletics and sport in general was a marvellous experience and a special time. "For me, I’ve done a lot of individual performances throughout the years and have made Europeans, Worlds and Olympics but to be part of a team is definitely very special.
“The team is constantly changing, six athletes went to the Europeans, but different people ran the heats in Rome compared to Paris.
"So we’re always constantly fighting for our spot, nothing is taken for granted. It’s great to see 400m running in Ireland go from strength to strength, we didn’t have that years ago.”
And with the 2025 outdoor season just getting underway, there is still plenty to aim for as Healy admits.
“I suppose for me Paris was always going to be the goal and I didn’t know what was going to happen afterwards.
"Mentally, I thought it was my last Olympics but when we finished fourth it definitely spurs you on for the following year.
“It’s a very exciting year ahead, we go on to the World Relays in a couple weeks time in China and there we have to secure our spot for the World Championships later in September, which are in Tokyo.
“We also have European team championships and obviously we have our own individual performances to do so it’s an exiting time to be involved.” Meanwhile, the 2025 Cork City Sports take place on Wednesday July 9 at the MTU Athletics Stadium, commencing at 5.30pm.
The Cork City Sports Athletics Person of the Month and Yearly Awards are sponsored by the River Lee, 96&C103FM, The Echo, Cork Crystal and Leisureworld.
January: Reece Ademola (Leevale AC); February: Kotryna Pacerinskaite (Fanahan McSweeney AC); March: Nicola Tuthill (Bandon AC); April: Lucy Holmes (MTU); May: Diarmuid O’Connor (Bandon AC & University of Connecticut); June: Phil Healy (Bandon AC); July: Eoin O’Callaghan (Bandon AC); August: Sean Carmody (Leevale AC): September: Sinead O’Connor (Leevale AC): October: Paul Hartnett (East Cork AC): November: Ryan Creech (Leevale AC); December: Niamh Allen (Leevale AC).
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