Mixed emotions for Mawdsley at European Indoors

By Shane Brophy

Sharlene Mawdsley endured a bitter-sweet experience at the European Indoor Athletics Championships in Istanbul last weekend.

The Newport AC athlete got off to a terrific start on Friday morning when she finished second in her heat of the 400m, clocking 52.59 to come home just behind Austrian Gogl-Walli, and sixth overall, progressing to the semi-finals later that evening.

With high hopes of reaching the final, it wasn’t to be for Sharlene in the semi-final as she recorded a disappointing time of 53.37 to finish last. She got caught in a poor position on the break and couldn’t recover to finish in the top three.

Mawdsley boasts a personal best of 51.91 so even a solid run would have seen her reach the final.

“If there was ever a race to go wrong,” she said on her instagram page post-race.

“I am really disappointed with my semi-final. Tactically I didn’t do very much. Although I may have underperformed, it is a positive that the last time I raced at the European Indoors I was 33rd,” she said as he ends this campaign as the ninth best in Europe.

However, Sharlene turned her individual disappointment into a positive the following day as she was Ireland’s best performer in the final of the 4x400m relay.

Mawdsley was part of the Irish team alongside Sophie Becker, Cliodhna Manning and Phil Healy up against the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, and the Czech Republic with the Netherland took gold.

However, Mawdsley ran an impressive leg in a time of 51.15, easily the quickest of the Irish quintet.