First World medal for Mawdsley

The Bahamas is seen by many as a dream holiday destination, but for Sharlene Mawdsley she will have great memories of the Caribbean island as she was successful on the treble last weekend.

By Shane Brophy

Competing for Ireland at the World Relay Championships last weekend, not only did she claim a first international medal by running the final leg on the 4x400m Mixed Relay team who won bronze, the fact that both the mixed and female relay teams reached the finals in their respective events meant they booked their passage to the Olympic Games in Paris later this summer.

The achievements continue a terrific tour de force for the Newport AC athlete who suffered bitter disappointment three years ago at these very championships where she helped the mixed relay team qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo but wasn’t subsequently selected for the Games.

Bar injury, it hard not to see her taking to the start-line in the Stade de France in August, and in the meantime her focus will shift to qualifying for the individual 400 metres where she is currently 29th in the world with 46 runners set to compete in Paris.

Back to last weekend in the Bahamas, Sharlene was first up in the mixed 4x400m heats on Saturday, where the fastest two teams in each heat would qualify for the Olympics.

Along with team mates Cillian Greene, Rhasidat Adeleke and Thomas Barr, Sharlene ran a blistering anchor leg to win the heat and qualify for the world final as well as the Olympics with a new national record.

Less than two hours later, Sharlene took to the track again for the women’s 4x400m heats, where along with Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke and Phil Healy, she anchored her team once again to victory, Olympic qualification and another national record.

On Sunday, Sharlene competed in both world finals, starting off in the mixed relay, again with Cillian Greene, Rhasidat Adeleke and Thomas Barr, where in a very exciting race, she again ran the anchor leg in another blistering time of 50.12 to win a bronze medal, just run out of silver by the Netherland’s great Femke Bol, both behind the winners, the United States.

Ireland's time of 3:11.53 took almost a second off the Irish record, the same quartet had set on Saturday with Adeleke running a sensational second leg of 48.45 seconds to add to her burgeoning reputation.

”Honestly, it’s everything, you know, to come away with a medal. And it’s my first medal,

so I’ll be making the most of this,” a delighted Mawdsley said.

After the exertions of that race, both Mawdsley and Adeleke were pulled from the ladies relay final with Sophie Becker and Phil Healy joined by Roisin Harrison and Lauren Cadden where they finished a respectable seventh out of eighth, five seconds off a medal.

“It’s a great start to the Olympic season and we couldn’t have asked for much more,” Mawdsley added.