Sarah Healy wins 1,500m at Diamond League in Rome
produced a magnificent finishing kick to win the 1,500 metres at the Rome Diamond League meeting on Friday night.
Just like she did in winning the European Indoor title over 3,000m last March, Healy bided her time over the last 150 metres, holding third coming into the homestretch behind leader Susan Ejore from Kenya, and Australia's Sarah Billings.
Just when Billings moved in front and looked poised for victory, Healy came again and took the win in 3:59.17, a rare Irish victory on the Diamond League stage inside the Stadio Olimpico. Billings held on for second in 3:59.24, with fellow Australian Abbey Caldwell coming through for third in 3:59.32.
It was Healy's first outdoor 1,500m race this season, the 24-year-old already improving her 3,000m best to 8:27.02 in finishing third in the Rabat Diamond League 10 days ago.
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In a stacked field of 15 women, 13 of which had run sub-4:00, Healy again showed her growing confidence since her indoor success in March, which she followed with a sixth-place finish in the World Indoors.
She will race the 1,500m again in Paris on June 20th. Her best stands at 3:57.46, run at the Paris Diamond League last July, which looks under threat, as does Ciara Mageean's Irish record of 3:55.87, clocked in Brussels in 2023.
Cathal Doyle ran a lifetime best of 3:32.15 in the men's 1,500m earlier in the night, although that left him back in 14th place, where the 16 finishers all ran sub-3:33. Victory went to Azeddine Habz from France, in a season best of 3:29.72, ahead of Kenya's 2019 World champion Cheruiyot Timothy, who clocked 3:39.75.
It took a full second off Doyle's previous best of 3:33.15 set last year, the Dublin athlete moving closer to qualification for the World Championships in Tokyo in September.
Kenya's Beatrice Chebet, the double Olympic champion from Paris last summer, produced another stellar run to clock the second fastest 5,000m time in history with her 14:03.69, just two and half seconds outside the world record.
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I was congratulating him on his season and just chatting like that. I told him maybe refrain a little, rather than attacking 25 times, attack maybe five times. 'He was saying 'that's the way I am, I do things differently', and I just told him your career goes very quickly, you don't want to be known as a very aggressive rider but (who) hasn't got a palmarès (list of wins). It's about winning races, that's what you leave behind. 'I wasn't advising him, we were just shooting the breeze, but then when I saw him winning his first Tour stage, and majestically winning it, it was a brilliant ride. 'Being in the group from a long way out, attacking with 40km to go, you need some balls to do that. Tadej Pogačar can do it, but very few actually do it and maintain it. I was a little worried he might keel over on the final climb, but no, Ben just kept going, putting more time on the two guys behind him.' Ben Healy approaches the line solo to win Stage 6 of the 2025 Tour de France. 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I was a bit different, and I think in our day there was a lot more stress after winning a stage, or winning a yellow jersey. 'Riders these days are more micromanaged, they have their own press officer looking after them, so I wouldn't say wearing the yellow jersey took that much out of him. 'But Healy hasn't come out of nowhere, this is the fruit of his hard work and dedication. He must also believe in himself now, after the performances he's put in the last few years, in the Tour and the Classics.' Ben Healy (right) is beaten to the line by Soudal Quick-Step's Valentin Paret-Peintre on Stage 16. Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images Healy displayed all his belief again in Tuesday's stage to Mont Ventoux, falling just a bike-length short of another place in Tour history, crossing the line second behind Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre. 'I thought he was unlucky,' says Roche. 'Tactically, maybe he didn't play it right. It's easy to say that in hindsight, but if I was Ben, after winning a stage and wearing the yellow jersey, I wouldn't have been so aggressive. I'd have sat back and told the others 'if you want to win this stage, you ride for it'. I'd have a bluffed a little bit too,' says Roche. 'He definitely deserved to win, and until the last 50m he had won it. But you could see Paret-Peintre had some extra motivation, to be the first French stage winner on this Tour.' For Roche, there's no doubt the 24-year-old Healy is still approaching his prime. Roche rode the Tour 10 times, finishing third in 1985 (aged 25), winning in 1987 aged 27, then winning another stage in 1992 (aged 32). 🚴♂️ Cycling legend Stephen Roche has just added his signature to this jersey YOU could WIN! This unique jersey will be signed by four Tour de France winners. For every £20 donation to — The Tour 21 (@TheTour21) 'He can definitely get better in time trialling with a bit more coaching. Climbing, we've seen he's not far off the mark. Generally, there's still a bit of progression to be made. So the sky is the limit, and if I were him, I'd keep dreaming big. 'I think he definitely has what it takes to target the podium anyway. You've got to target the yellow jersey, of course, but he can definitely target the podium. 'Until now, some people were saying 'Ben who? Oh the Irish guy?' But after this Tour, Ben Healy is a household name in cycling, all the peloton know what Ben is capable of, so you won't get as much rope as you got before. Once you start knocking on the door, doing these kind of performances, you become a marked man. 'But I don't think that will bother Ben. He shoots from the hip, really. Sometimes that comes with a cost as well, but the Tour is a special case, it's a different monster. You really do need to have special qualities to get up there like Healy has.'
