Despite Sharlene Mawdsley producing another searing anchor leg the Irish mixed 4x400m quartet fell short of making the final on day one of the World Athletics Relays in Botswana.
Inside a hot and noisy National Stadium in Gaborone, Mawdsley made up massive ground and time but still Ireland had to settle for fourth place in the first of three heats, although they will be back on the track on Sunday in the repechage round.
Mawdsley’s split of 49.08 seconds was the only sub-50 clocking on the anchor leg in that heat, faster than the 50.11 Lear Bailey from the USA ran in leading them home.
The Irish women’s 4x100m relay were unable to finish their heat, botching the last baton exchange and running outside the zone, and later the women’s 4x400m ended up fourth in their qualifying heat. Both teams also get another race in Sunday’s second round, but in many ways it proved a bit of a wake-up call for Irish relay running.
The two-day relay festival doubles as the qualification route to next year’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing, with the top 12 overall teams in each relay – the eight finalists, plus four more from Sunday’s repechage round – booking their place in the 2027 event.
The Irish mixed quartet qualified for last year’s World Championships and the Paris Olympics off the back of the World Relays, and the quartet of Jack Raftery, Sophie Becker, Seán Doggett and Mawdsley had high hopes of earning another qualifying spot here. But this time they didn’t have Rhasidat Adeleke, a constant presence in those big relay performances over the last two years.
Racing in the first of three heats, Ireland finished fourth in 3:12.05, with the USA winning in 3:09.82. The top two in each heat, plus two more of the fastest times, made Sunday’s final, which meant at that point Ireland still had a chance.
None of the teams in the second heat eclipsed their time, but the third heat was notably faster, won by Great Britain in 3:09.69, the top five times all faster than Ireland. So it’s back to Sunday’s repechage round, which will involve all the teams who didn’t make the final, with the four remaining places for next year’s World Championships going to the top two finishers in each repechage heat.
“Honestly, it’s a second and a half faster than we ran in Tokyo at the World Championships last year, so that’s really promising,” said Mawdsley, the 27-year-old Tipperary athlete confident Ireland can still snatch a qualifying place on Sunday.
Ireland’s Molly Scott in action during the women’s 4x100m heats. Photograph: Inpho
Raftery started well to place Ireland third after the first leg (45.72), with Becker losing some ground after that (50.90). The 19-year-old Doggett chased hard, moving briefly into fourth before dropping back one place before the final exchange (46.35). Then came Mawdsley, who promptly regained fourth place and quickly started tearing up ground. But with the USA, Spain and Australia too far ahead, fourth was where she finished.
“I think it’s promising,” added Becker. “The first relay run is always a bit rusty. We’re disappointed, but it was a promising run. We’ll go again tomorrow.” Raftery also added: “We’ve set such high standards for ourselves, we expect to make finals.”
Of the 22 teams entered the mixed 4x400m, Ireland’s 3:12.05 ranked them 10th fastest across the three heats, suggesting they do indeed have an excellent chance of making the top four places in Sunday’s repechage round.
The Irish women’s 4x400m quartet went in the second of three heats, Rachel McCann, Jenna Breen, Molly Daly and Arlene Crossan coming in with a mix of youth and experience. McCann blasted out with real intent, passing over to Breen in fourth, before 18-year-old Daly took the baton in fifth.
Daly certainly handled her leg well in what was her first senior international appearance, before Crossan finished like a train over the last 50m, passing Kennekae Balisani from Botswana to make it up to fourth. But there were big gaps to the top three, Canada taking the win in 3:23.52, the Irish quartet finishing in 3:29.93.
That ranked them 14th overall, again suggesting they still have a chance to make it inside the top-12 overall places on Sunday, if they can find a little more time between them.
In the women’s 4x100m, Molly Scott, Ciara Neville, Mollie O’Reilly and Sarah Leahy had a little more experience to call on, but the last changeover between O’Reilly and Leahy went all wrong, as they were unable to complete the exchange within the permitted zone.
“We’ve worked quite hard over the last few weeks, and hopefully we can go better tomorrow,” said Scott.
There was one historical footnote to the day in Gaborone when the 18-year-old Daly ran in the women’s 4x400m, meaning it was the first time three generations of the same family competed for Ireland on the senior international stage. Both her parents Rob and Fiona (nee Norwood) ran for Ireland in the same event, her grandfather Robert Norwood also competing in the 1970s in the 400m.