Ireland have qualified for the Olympic final of the women’s 4x400m relay after a thrilling semi-final race in the Stade de France.
The quartet of Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Kelly McGrory and Sharlene Mawdsley needed to finish in the top three to make sure of qualification, and running in the second heat, they did just that.
Mawdsley ran the anchor leg and the Tipperary runner produced her now trademark surge, moving Ireland from fourth to third in the final leg, while clocking the fastest split in their heat with her 49.65 seconds.
Jamaica took the win in 3:24.92, the Dutch quartet just holding on for second in 3:25.03, Mawdsley bringing Ireland home right beside them in third, in 3:25.05.
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Ireland did make the final of the mixed 4x400m relay in Tokyo three years ago, but this is the first time a women’s quartet have made an Olympic final. The final takes place on Saturday night (8.14pm Irish time), the last track event of the Olympic programme.
Ireland’s 3:25.05 was ranked seventh fastest overall across the two heats, but depending on the outcome of Rhasidat Adeleke’s 400m final on Friday night, it is expected she will take over one of the spots for the final.
Becker got Ireland off to a brilliant start, her split of 50.90 seconds giving them a lead ahead of Jamaica, Healy also running a terrific leg to keep them in front at the second changeover, with a split of 51.90. McGrory poured everything into her leg too, still leading into the straight, before some fatigue started to creep in, with Jamaica, the Netherlands and Canada getting ahead.
Mawdsley was about five metres down when she took over, but had caught the trio ahead of her by the backstretch, then bided her time before charging past Canada’s Kyra Constantine coming into the straight, finishing just behind Lisanne De Witte from the Netherlands.
Both Becker and Mawdsley already had three races in their legs, from the mixed relay heats, and the heats and repechage round of the 400m, but showed no signs of any tiredness here.
Mawdsley said: “The girls say I always look so controlled on the last leg, and I know what I’m doing, but every time I’m like ‘will I make my move now ...’
“You’re speeding up, slowing down. That’s what we train for, getting used to all of that in training. I trust myself so much in the last 100m of a relay now, I just charge for home.
“I do think we could have come probably first or second, to be honest, but we have a little bit in our legs now for tomorrow. I’m so proud of that performance. We wanted to come top three and that’s exactly what we did.
“We’ll go back and recharge and regroup now and see what the plan is. Obviously Rhasidat has her final tonight so it’ll probably be a waiting game to see what happens there but we’re all guns blazing now.”
Healy was equally pleased with her effort: “It’s unbelievable to come away as Olympic finalists. That was the aim coming in here. We knew it was going to be a tough ask with the draw but to come away with an automatic Q, early in the morning, you just can’t ask for more.”
Becker also timed her opening leg to perfection: “I’m absolutely delighted,” she said. “It was kinda hard running a bit blind, I didn’t know if Jamaica were having a really good or bad run, so I just tried to stay up with her. I could see Phil there and I was like ‘Oh my God, just get the baton to her. It was just amazing, I got us into a good position and we had the inside line then for all of the handovers and switches, definitely optimal for a relay.”
Once McGrory passed the baton to Mawdsley, she had no doubt the Tipperary athlete would see them through.
“I knew I had to go out hard at the start,” she said. “We got the baton changed at the same time as the Dutch and then I just wanted to be ahead at the 200m mark, especially when we were getting lined up for Sharlene so I’m just happy with how it went.
“I knew when I was passing it over to Sharlene that we were going to be in good hands but all the girls ran amazing! We got the job done today and it was not an easy task, but we did it.”
USA as expected won the first heat by some clear distance, clocking 3:21.44, with Britain taking the second spot in 3:24.72, just ahead of France, who clocked 3:24.73.
Later in the semi-finals of the men’s 800m, Mark English ran with clear intent of making the final, only the top two sure of progressing, when charging to the front with just over 200m to go.
The Donegal runner held his form and his position coming into the straight, but still had some big contenders chasing close behind, and he faded back to sixth, finishing in 1:45.97, with Algeria’s gold medal favourite Djamel Sedjati taking the victory in 1:45.08.
“It’s not the result I wanted out there, I wanted to get through,” he said. “I went for the win in the semi-final, but it just wasn’t my day. I couldn’t have given it any more and even in the warm-up, I did everything and there’s nothing I would change. I was always going to give it my best shot, but the wheels kind of just came off the last 50m.”
Sarah Lavin also missed out on a final place in the women’s 100m hurdles, clipping the eighth hurdle and finishing sixth her semi-final in 12.69 seconds, not far off her national record of 12.62, but some way off qualifying.
Alaysha Johnson won her semi-final in 12.34, and Lavin would have needed to improve significantly on her 12.62 to progress, and ended up ranked 15th overall.
“Up until the eighth hurdle I did everything I could,” she said, “couldn’t have any regrets about my push from the start or how I got out but, yeah, I guess the speed we’re travelling at, you have to lift your knees and it’s not very forgiving. 12.69 is not a slow time but I was definitely hoping for more.
“But I think I have to be immensely proud of myself for performing under pressure again and bringing one of my best times to the biggest stage, even with a mistake.”
