IRELAND’S SARAH HEALY has won a gold medal for Ireland in the 3000m at the European Indoor Athletics Championships.

Healy finished with a time of 8:52.86, beating out Britain’s Melissa Courtney-Bryant on the closing straight.

She is the first Irish woman to win gold at the event, and Ireland’s first gold medallist at these championships since David Gillick in 2007.

Speaking to Gillick for RTÉ Sport following her win, Healy said that she wanted to race for the win, but would have been happy with a medal. She said she was glad that her parents were able to watch her compete.

“I knew I had an opportunity today to win a medal,” she said. “And I also knew I had a chance to win a gold but I didn’t want to put too much expectation on it and just try to race the best I could.

“I wanted to race for the win but I knew a medal was going to be great too.

“I felt so good the whole way around. But it was so messy, it was just a case of trying to get the space for it and I had to wait until the last possible moment. I’m so glad it worked.”

Only minutes before, Mark English won a bronze medal in the 800m at the European Indoor Athletics Championships. English finished with a time of 1:45:46. Kate O’Connor also medalled for Ireland, taking bronze in the pentathlon.