Mawdsley selected on Ireland team for World Relay Championships

Athletics Ireland have confirmed their selection for the 2026 World Athletics Relays which take place in Gaborone, Botswana on Saturday 2nd & Sunday May 3rd.

A women’s and mixed 4x400m team, along with a women’s 4x100m team will travel to the championships aiming to seal qualification for the 2027 World Athletics Championships which will be hosted in Beijing, China.

The top twelve teams in each event will qualify for the World Athletics Championships, with the top six teams in the mixed 4x400m relay qualifying for the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest in September.

Newport AC’S Sharlene Mawdsley headlines the team, returning to the Irish singlet for the first time since last year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. The Tipperary sprinter is selected for both the women’s and mixed 4x400m teams and is an intriguing addition to the women’s 4x100m relay squad.

Olympic relay finalist Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock AC) is also named in the women’s and mixed 4x400m relay squads. Rachel McCann (North Down AC) who raced as part of the women’s 4x400m team in Tokyo last year joins Becker and Mawdsley in both 4x400m selections.

18-year-old’s Molly Daly (Kilkenny City Harriers) and Erin Friel (Letterkenny AC) are called up to the senior relay squad for the first time. Daly ran a time of 53.74 seconds last month indoors in only her third ever race over the distance, while Friel, who is a European Youth Olympic medallist, also ran a personal best of 54.20 seconds indoors.

Jack Raftery (Donore Harriers) returns to the World Athletics Relays once again, having played key roles for both the mixed and men’s teams in Guangzhou last year. He is joined in the mixed relay by young athletes Sean Doggett (Athenry AC) and Fintan Dewhirst (Tír Chonaill AC) who finished first and second respectively at March’s 123.ie National Senior Indoor Championships.

The Women’s 4x100m relay team return to the event for the first time since 2021. Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC) and Molly Scott (St. Laurence O’Toole AC) both featured on that team and are selected in the squad. They are joined by Ciara Neville (Emerald AC) who made her first international individual appearance in five years recently at the World Indoor Championships and Precious Akpe-Moses (Blackrock AC) who could make her senior international debut.

Commenting on the team selection Christian Malcolm, Athletics Ireland High Performance Sprints Lead, said: “We are excited to travel to Gaborone with three strong squads in pursuit of 2027 World Athletics Championships qualification and in preparation for August’s European Athletics Championships.

“It’s exciting to see the progress of the 4x100m squads, with the women’s squad comfortably qualified to be here, and both the men and women on track to make an impact at the European Championships in Birmingham this summer. We look forward to our final preparation camp in Stellenbosch, South Africa before we travel to Gaborone to compete.”

Twelve teams in each of the events will automatically qualify for the 2027 World Athletics Championships in Beijing. World Championships places are up for grabs on both days of action. On the first day, the top two teams in each of the four heats will advance to the finals on day two, while also securing their qualification for the World Athletics Championships.

In the finals on day two, teams will compete for prize money and obtain preferential World Championships lane seeding positions. All other teams will compete on day two in the additional round where the top two teams in each of the two heats will also qualify for the World Athletics Championships.