Ireland’s Sarah Healy on smashing her own indoor 3000m record

The Olympian demolished her own indoor 3000m mark at the Millrose Games in New York

Sarah Healy has been in sensational form this indoor season and broke her own Irish indoor 3000m record at the Millrose Games last weekend (February 8), clocking 8:30.79.

The 24-year-old bettered her mark of 8:35.19, which she set at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix the week prior, in a race where Melissa Courtney-Bryant secured victory.

Healy’s impressive time in New York now places her as the seventh-fastest European woman over the distance indoors.

Sarah Healy

In late 2022, Healy made the move from Dublin to Manchester to join the renowned M11 Track Club, which is led by Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows – coaches to Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Bell.

Keely Hodgkinson out of Keely Klassic

Last year, Healy represented Ireland at multiple major championships, including the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, the European Championships in Rome, and the Paris Olympics. She also finished seventh in the European 1500m final.

She holds a personal best of 3:57.46 over 1500m and 2:00.86 over 800m outdoors – both set in 2024.

Now in the form of her life, she will be returning to the 1500m this weekend at the Keely Klassic, where she will compete alongside several of her training partners – though notably, Hodgkinson will be absent due to a hamstring injury.

Healy caught up with AW ahead of the Keely Klassic.

How did you feel after running 8:35 in Boston?

I was excited to go over to Boston because every year you see people go over to the New Balance race and I think it looks so cool.

The race was a strange one for me because I didn’t have the perfect lead-up to it. We had been on a training camp in South Africa so I was looking forward to it, but I ended up getting a bit ill on the way home. My week leading up to the race was not my normal type of preparation and not what you’d want leading into a meet. 

By the time I got there, I was fine and recovered but I think I raced a little bit cautiously. It was such a good race to be part of and I was very happy to run a national record. However, I was a little bit frustrated because I knew I had been cautious.

I ran in the second pack and then closed quite strongly, so  I knew I’d made a mistake with my positioning. But it got my confidence up and it was great because I had another go the next week.

Did you expect to further your national record by almost five seconds the following week?

Yeah, I did. I knew I had faster in me. Doing a race brings you on so much, so I knew I would have gotten a lot from the race in Boston.

I knew I could run faster for the first 2km, and it wouldn’t ruin the end of my race. I’d still be able to finish strong and that’s exactly what happened. I just wasn’t sure exactly how much quicker it would amount to but I knew I had a few seconds in me.

How are you feeling ahead of the Keely Klassic?

I think it’s a cool concept and I’m excited to go and race with so many of my training group there as well. It’s been busy because I’ve just got home from the US and I’m racing again, but at least I don’t have to leave the UK, which is nice.

I like racing a lot because it builds momentum and I’m excited to go back down to 1500m.

Sarah Healy (Getty)

What do you think the event is doing for the sport?

I think any type of innovation is good for the sport and it’s only the first edition of it, so I’m sure they’ll build on it as well. I think the way they’re marketing it and promoting it makes it all very exciting. I think any new race opportunity, or any kind of modernisation is needed for the sport.

How do you reflect on last year’s season?

I think 2024 was a mad year and I found it quite challenging to be honest. It was my first year as a full-time athlete so I put a bit of pressure on myself because of that. The year previous had been my first year with Jenny and Trevor, and I had a breakthrough so I was just hoping to build on that.

I finished the year with some great personal bests – I ran 3:57 for the 1500m and 2:00 for the 800m. If you told me that at the start of the year, I would have been really happy with those times. But the European Championships and the Olympics were quite a big disappointment for me and I underperformed.

That was hard and it was difficult when my training group was so successful. I was so happy for them but when everyone was performing so well I felt I had underperformed by my standards. I’ve now dealt with it and learned so much from the whole experience. But I think, honestly, I just put a bit too much pressure on everything last year, and for no reason. I just have to run as fast as I can, and that’s it.

I think now, since 2025, I have just been trying to enjoy it a bit more and not feel as much stress or pressure about it. It’s just about doing the best that I can and just trying to have a bit more fun.

Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows (Tim Adams)

When and why did you decide to join Trevor and Jenny’s training group?

I joined Trevor and Jenny towards the end of 2022. I had just competed at the World Championships in Oregon and at the European Championships in Munich and I knew I wanted to make a change.

I had been training in Ireland by myself, mainly. I had a great coach, Owen Marnell, but I didn’t have any training partners. I sort of knew that if I wanted to pursue it full time then it wouldn’t be sustainable to stay where I was. It was Owen’s suggestion to reach out to Jenny and Trevor, which I probably wouldn’t have done myself because I thought it was just like an 800m group.

I knew of Keely because I’d been competing at the same championships as her growing up and I also knew that Erin Wallace had also joined the group. So I reached out and I went on a training camp with them in 2022, in Font Romeu, we all got along well and I became part of the group.

I’ve been with the group for just over two years now and it’s amazing how much it’s changed, even in the two years since I’ve been here. It feels like I’m one of the people who’ve been here a long time because we’ve had so many new additions.

Why do you think M11 Track Club is so successful, what works so well?

I mean just having a group of such good training partners raises the bar. It means we can train harder and train better because we all have each other. I suppose when you see people like Keely or Georgia so close to home, and you see what they’re doing, it makes it seem a bit more possible.

They’re just normal people training hard and then getting the results and you can learn from them as well. There’s a great plan in place and Trevor and Jenny create a great program and it’s proven to work. The standards have been set high and everyone’s aiming for that.

Sarah Healy (Mark Shearman)

What do you make of the strength of Ireland in athletics right now?

It’s really good that Ireland is doing well, for such a small country as well. It’s nice to be part of it at the minute with everyone doing so well. When one person does something amazing, it makes other people feel like they can do it too.

When you’re doing well, the morale is so high and there’s a positive atmosphere within the team. Whenever we go to championships it’s nice being a part of the team because it’s a great group of people. Everyone’s very nice to each other which is helpful. It just takes one person to set the standard high, and then everyone sort of follows.

It’s a nice atmosphere and I would hope that it’s encouraging more and more young people to get involved. I don’t live in Ireland anymore so I don’t see it quite so much but there’s been so much positive media coverage of athletics in Ireland, especially after Paris.

I saw some photos of younger girls wearing bows in their hair, copying the girls from the Irish relay team, which is so nice to see. I think it is inspiring the next generation. When I was younger there wasn’t as much going on, or as many Irish athletes competing on the global stage so I probably would have loved it if there were more and I would have looked up to them a lot.

What are your goals for the year ahead?

Tokyo [World Championships] is the main goal but it’s still quite a while away now. I have the qualifying time for it, so all going well, hopefully, I should be there and I hope to improve on my performance from last year. I’ve struggled a few times at championships to get the best out of myself so that’s a major goal for me.

I want to run fast personal bests and break more Irish records too. But this year, I don’t want to set concrete goals, particularly in terms of time, because I want to race with less pressure and not have a number in mind. I suppose a number can be limiting, and I don’t want to put any limits on myself this year. I’m going to run as fast as I can and see what happens.