Cork's Sophie O'Sullivan through to World Athletics Championship semi-final in Tokyo
Sophie O'Sullivan of Ireland after qualifying. Picture: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Sarah Healy (UCD AC) and Sophie O’Sullivan (Ballymore Cobh AC) stormed into the semi-finals of the Women’s 1500m on the opening day of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Healy, racing at this event for the third consecutive time, showed her class to ease through her heat by placing third. The Dubliner looked comfortable on her way to crossing the line in 4:02.67.
“That was as smooth as I could hope for,” Healy said afterwards.
I’ve been in the semi-final once before but for these championships my aim is to improve on last year, there’s no point in getting ahead of myself.”
O’Sullivan certainly had to work harder to seal her place in the semi-final, the 23-year-old showing considerable guts to advance to her first global semi-final. With 50 metres to go, sitting outside the qualification spots O’Sullivan dug deep to qualify, finishing sixth in her heat in a season’s best of 4:02.12.
“I’m really happy with that, I wasn’t sure what to expect,” she said. “I knew if I got here and feel decent then I could compete.”
Describing the closing she metres she added: “I just thought I’m not missing out [on a semi-final] again. I can’t do that again. I’ve been here twice and not made it and it’s just heartbreaking. I threw everything at it and luckily it worked out and I slid in there.”
Laura Nicholson (Bandon AC) was also in action in the Women’s 1500m finishing 13th in her heat in 4:14.12, failing to make the semi-final on her senior major championship debut.
“I’ve made a huge jump forward, but I’ve also been humbled a lot,” the Cork woman said of her season.
Sunday morning’s session is a busy one for Team Ireland with Olympians Fionnuala McCormack (marathon), Nicola Tuthill (Hammer Throw), Cathal Doyle (1500m), Andrew Coscoran (1500m) and Sarah Lavin (100m Hurdles) all set to take to the track at the Japan National Stadium.
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