Scott and Healy through to Indoor semi-finals

Phil Healy and Molly Scott have both progressed to the semi-finals at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Belgrade.

Scott was the first Irish competitor on track and finished fifth in her 60m heat in a time of 7.26, just short of her personal best and good enough to progress.

America's Mikiah Brisco won the heat in a blistering 7.03.

Healy shook off a bout of Covid-19 last week to win her 400m heat, finishing in a time of 51.75 to ensure her progression to the semi-final in style.

The Cork woman revealed that at one stage she was contemplating withdrawing from the 400m event after a disappointing session on Tuesday as she attempt to shake off the effects of Covid.

"The prep certainly wasn't ideal, picking up Covid last week," she said. "I even pushed out my departure to fly Wednesday instead of Tuesday because we wanted to do a tester session on Tuesday and to be honest it was crap.

"It was half of Tuesday I wasn't doing the individual because I do have the relay this weekend and I want to give the best performance there but we decided we have nothing to lose."

There's a short turn around for both runners with Scott back on track for her semi-final at 5:05pm and Healy will be out shortly after.

Mark English also tested positive for Covid last week but wasn't able to shake off the effects as well as Healy and finished fifth in his 800m heat and was well off the pace with a time of 1:51.35.

"It was a tough race," said English afterward. "I haven't had the right preparation coming into this, I had Covid last week. I thought I was able to go out and run but it just proved a little bit too much out there.

"My aerobic development just wasn't where it needed to be and I think it showed out there."

There was disappointment