A frantically paced Diamond League final proved a little too hot for Sarah Healy to handle in Zurich on Thursday night, and in the end the Irish athlete had to settle for eighth place in the 1,500 metres.
On a fine evening for running inside the sold out Letzigrund Stadium, the setting for 25 world records over the years, the pace was set up for a fast time for Australia’s Jessica Hull, who looked certain of victory until the last few strides.
After fellow Australian Catriona Bisset took the field to 800m in a swift 2:03, Hull promptly took over, the Olympic silver medallist leaving the field strung out behind her. Healy was sitting in sixth at the bell, only Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir keeping Hull within sight.
Despite being several strides clear coming into the homestretch, Hull faded dramatically as the finish approached. Chepchirchir pipped her on the line, winning in 3:56.99 to Hull’s 3:57.02, claiming the event prize of $30,000 and a Diamond League trophy.
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Healy never gave up the chase, but the gap was too large to make an impression on the leading finishers, and she came home eighth in 3:59.90. It was her slowest 1,500m time this season, having run a lifetime best of 3:57.15 to finish a close second to Chepchirchir at the Paris Diamond League. Healy also won the 1,500m at the Rome Diamond League.
As the last dress rehearsal before the World Championships in Tokyo, every event in Zurich was suitably loaded in class. Healy had repeatedly raised her level of performances since winning the European Indoor 3,000m title back in March, and her next task will be trying to make the 1,500m final in Tokyo.
There was also talk that Healy might challenge Ciara Mageean’s Irish record of 3:55.87, set at the Brussels Diamond League in 2023, but that still looks out of reach for now for the 24-year-old Dubliner.
Zurich was last big athletics meeting anywhere before Tokyo, which gets under way in just 15 days’ time. Several other Tokyo contenders lay down a marker, few more impressively than Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser in winning the women’s 400m. In last year’s Diamond League final in Brussels, Rhasidat Adeleke finished third in the 400m, promoted from fourth after Eid Naser was disqualified for a lane infringement having originally finished third.
Eid Naser took the win this time in a meeting record 48.70 seconds, the top six women all breaking 50 seconds. Reigning world champion Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic had to settle for second in 49.23.
There was a big win too for Adeleke’s training partner Julien Alfred, who won the 100m in 10.76, the St Lucian athlete making an excellent return to form after also missing some time with injury. Rising Dutch star Niels Laros also underlined his form ahead of Tokyo, winning the men’s 1,500m in a national record of 3:29.20.
