EARLIER this year David Gillick sent Phil Healy a message: ‘Don’t ever forget what you have done for the sport.’

He meant it.

It has been a challenging year for the Bandon AC sprinter, and Gillick, a former elite athlete himself, understands better than most the highs and lows that shape a career.

He wanted to reach out, to offer support, and to remind Healy of her impact.

A dislocated shoulder at the national championships ended her season in the summer, but even before that the Ballineen woman had struggled to rediscover her top gear. Health issues held her back.

‘A very tough year,’ was her honest assessment. This came less than 12 months after the high of running her fastest-ever relay split in the women’s 4x400m Olympic final in Paris 2024.

Gillick knows that feeling too, the sheer ruthlessness of athletics. Just look at the title of his new book: The Race: The inside track on the ruthless world of elite athletics.

‘The danger is you may step off the track and your career doesn’t end on your terms, and you forget about all the positives,’ Gillick said, determined to highlight how Healy (31) has been a trailblazer for Irish women’s sprinting.

‘I always look at athletes and yes, the talent is there, but it’s your application, how you commit to the sport. Phil is a model professional. She has been incredible.

‘Phil has done an awful lot for the good of the sport and for her local area, reminding people that we can compete at the highest level. It’s the inspiration she gives to other athletes coming through.’

Healy won’t run this indoor season as she continues her recovery from shoulder surgery. What her 2026 will look like is unclear, and she has already acknowledged that she is in the ‘tail end’ of her remarkable career.

That makes it all the more important to recognise her role in transforming Irish women’s sprinting.

Before Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker burst onto the scene, Healy was the standard-bearer. She was the first Irish woman ever to run under 23 seconds for the 200 metres. She became the first Irish woman in 40 years to hold both the 100m and 200m national records at the same time.

She won her first national senior title in 2014. Her longevity and consistency are remarkable. At the Tokyo Olympics she became the first Irish female athlete to compete in three track-and-field events at the same Games. Add in two Olympic relay finals – Tokyo and Paris – and an entire decade at the forefront of Irish sprinting.

‘We were fortunate in Ireland to have Karen Shinkins and Joanne Cuddihy, but then there was a gap,’ Gillick said on the Star Sport Podcast.

‘Sometimes in those gaps, as a nation and as a sport, you might think maybe we just don’t have the talent in that event. But then someone like Phil comes through to remind everyone that we can compete.

‘A few more came behind her, and then you have depth – that’s the key thing about that relay. They had massive depth, all led first by Phil, then Sharlene, then Sophie, then Rhasidat. And they are challenging.

‘When you look at her career, her medals, and even going back to Tokyo when Phil competed in three events, so much went into that at a time when we were crying out for someone to come through – and that was Phil.’