It proved something of a rude awakening for the Irish 4x400m mixed relay team as they found themselves run well out of the qualifying places on the first morning session of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
The quartet of Jack Raftery, Sophie Becker, Conor Kelly and Sharlene Mawdsley ended up sixth of the nine starting teams, with only the top three assured of their place in the final later on Saturday, along with the two fastest non-qualifiers across the two heats.
Their time of 3:13.59 was also well off the Irish record of 3:09.92 set last summer, and despite strong hopes of at least making the final, they were never in contention.
Raftery got the team off to an aggressive start, holding his own approaching the first changeover, but there was a hard fight for position at the lane break, and Becker slipped into sixth, and then passed off to Kelly in eighth.
By then Kelly was already well distanced on the leaders, and although the 18-year-old also fought hard, it was too late to make any impression on the top six. Mawdsley did make up two places, as Jamaica faded dramatically on the last leg, and she also finished just ahead of the German quartet to nail sixth.
The USA took the win in 3:10.19, ahead of Great Britain and South Africa, with Italy fourth and Japan fifth. Both South African and Italy improved their national records, an indication of the fast-increasing standard in the event, although Ireland had beaten Italy to win European gold in the event in Rome last summer.
The second heat was won by Belgium in 3:10.37, ahead of the Netherlands and Poland, and the combined results meant Italy and Japan also qualified for the final, taking those two fastest non-qualifier spots, while Ireland ended up 11th overall of the 16 finishing teams, with Kenya disqualified for a lane infringement.
“As a collective we’re disappointed,” Raftery said. “We set such a high standard for ourselves last year, winning in Rome and running so well in Paris that we expect to be in the final every time we come out to a major championship.”
Mawdsley added: “It was very hard, I thought I was going to pass out afterwards. You can’t have an off day at a World Championships and that’s clearly what we had. It’s our own fault; we made mistakes in the race; it’s just how it goes. We’ll learn so much from this… We’ll be back.”
For Kelly, the European Under-20 champion who has just started his college career in Texas, it was also a learning experience: “Today was not a good day but that’s how it goes. I’m happy it wasn’t a good day because next time I’ll come back and not much worse can happen!”
Both Mawdsley and Becker will now turn their attention to the individual 400m, the heats on Sunday, and will also play a role in the women’s 4x400m as they go into their qualifying heats next weekend.
Earlier, in the 35km walk, the opening event, Oisín Lane finished in 28th place, in a time of 2:41.36, the 23-year-old from Mullingar Harriers enduring tough, humid conditions. The gold medal there went to Evan Dunfee from Canada in 2:28.32.
“It was very tough, with the humidity out there, and for the last 10km all I was thinking about was the finish,” he said, “I wasn’t even thinking about the places. So surprised I finished top 30 even.”
In the men’s shot put qualification, Eric Favors threw a best of 19.19m in Group A, and ended up 17th, the Raheny Shamrock athlete also well short of qualification.