Mawdsley on fire with three Personal Bests in five days
By Thomas Conway
Three scintillating performances from Tipperary athlete Sharlene Mawdsley saw her smash her own 400m & 200m personal best times in the space of five days on the European circuit last week.
Mawdsley - whose record-breaking anchor leg exploits at the World Relay Championships in Botswana some weeks ago caught global attention - opened her individual season by surging to victory at the Continental Tour Bronze Event in Savona, Italy, last Wednesday, recording a new personal best of 50.52 in the process.
The 27-year-old subsequently whittled her time down further in the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on Saturday evening, winning her race in 50.17s.
The following day at the same meet, the Newport native clocked a new PB in the 200m of 23.09 (-0.1m/s). Mawdsley's previous best (23.18) had been set in June 2023, rising to fifth on the Irish all-time list for the event.
Her time in the 400m would have been sufficient to secure a bronze medal in three of the last four editions of the European Championships. At the last edition of those championships in Rome in 2024, Mawdsley qualified for the 400m final. It was in that race that her Irish teammate, Rhasidat Adeleke, secured a silver medal and also recorded the Irish 400m record of 49.07. Mawdsley and Adeleke were also part of the mixed 4x400m relay team which won gold at that event, and the women’s 4x400m relay team which secured silver.
However, the Tipperary woman has risen to new heights since that time. She has forged a reputation as a formidable anchor leg relay runner, while her individual performances have been increasingly impressive. Her remarkable final leg in the 4x400m at the World Relay Championships earned Ireland qualification for the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing and also went viral online, attracting international acclaim. She was also Irish team captain for that event - another sign of her status as one of the country’s leading track and field athletes.
On an individual level, the 27 year-old has made no secret of the fact that she is targeting a final place at August’s European Championships. In this form, Mawdsley will be odds on to meet that target and perhaps even go further. The last week represents a significant progression and is yet another indicator that Mawdsley is on the right track.