The finest of margins.

Phil Healy capped her historic Olympic appearance as the first Irish woman to compete in three different events today, missing out on the Women’s 400m Semi-Final by a hair’s breadth.

The runner, who yesterday achieved her season’s best time during her heat for the 200m final, finished fourth in her heat with a time of 51.98 — a time that was almost good enough to see her through as one of the six fastest qualifiers.

Unfortunately, her time was bettered by just 0.07 seconds in the final heat, by Eleni Artymata of Cyprus.

However, Healy will leave Tokyo and return to Cork not just as a historic figure, but as an Olympic finalist, having reached the final of the 4x400m Relay and finishing 8th with the rest of her team.

Healy was upbeat and full of perspective following the race, and told RTÉ: “Yesterday I was disappointed to miss out by six hundredths. Today is my second fastest time ever outdoors.

“Of course I would love to be in a semi-final and I know what the other runs have taken from me, but I came out here to be the first Irish woman to do three events in athletics in the Olympics.

“We made history in the relay and I have to be happy. That performance today has erased yesterday for me so I will definitely be going home happy from these Games.”

Healy’s coach Shane McCormack offered a tribute to Healy on Instagram, writing: “A game of inches, Phil went out fighting in her 4th race of this Olympics, running on fumes she produced a run for the ages pulling out a 51.98 in her heat for 4th, just one spot off a semi and 24th overall.

“Her second fastest time ever and the 11th fastest European overall. Words can’t describe how proud I am of her achievements, an OLYMPIC FINALIST and the first Irish woman to compete in a hat-trick of Olympic track events.”