A stunning anchor leg by Sharlene Mawdsley helped the Irish women’s 4x400m quartet rise to the challenge on day two of the World Athletics Relays in Botswana. It was a case of mission accomplished on the second attempt for the team.
The two-day relay festival doubles as the qualification route to next year’s World Athletics Championships in Beijing. After both the Irish women’s and mixed 4×400 missed out on the initial eight places which went to each of the event finalists, it all came down to Sunday’s two “second chance” repechage races.
Inside a hot and noisy National Stadium in Gaborone, Mawdsley and Sophie Becker switched over from the mixed quartet, thus bundling all the Irish hopes into the women’s basket. That gamble paid off when Mawdsley stormed from third to first – passing France and Jamaica over the last lap – to complete a brilliant team effort and secure the win in 3:23.83.
Earlier, running without Mawdsley and Becker, the mixed quartet finished a distant seventh in their repechage, meaning it was all or nothing for the women. They did not disappoint – and their joy and elation afterwards was sprinkled with relief.
Mawdsley ran a searing 48.34 seconds on her anchor leg – the second fastest time of that heat – and in truth, the Irish quartet needed it.
“I’m so proud of our performances this weekend,” said Mawdsley. “We picked this team at 11am this morning and we just thought ‘let’s give ourselves a performance to be proud of’, and we did that. When Arlene gave me the baton in third, you know I like [to] chase, and thankfully we won.”
Rachel McCann took on the opening leg with real intent (52.35 from the block-start), putting Ireland clear in second at the first changeover, with France already opening some distance. Becker lost a little ground on the second leg (51.84) and was passed by Jamaica, before Arlene Crossan took up the penultimate leg in third.
Crossan closed up impressively in the home stretch (51.30), but Mawdsley still had it all to do. Powering around the first bend, she quickly caught Andrenette Knight from Jamaica, blasting past her with just over 200m to run, before accelerating past Amandine Brossier from France around the final bend. France held on for the second qualifying spot, running 3:24.48, with Jamaica run out of qualifying in third, finishing in 3:25.38.
Becker added: “We’re absolutely chuffed. Sharlene and I crunched the numbers last night and knew if we all ran like we did yesterday, we could run 3:23. And it shows the depth we’re building in Ireland.”
Mawdsley has turned these sorts of anchor legs into her trademark. The 27-year-old Tipperary native also ran 49.08 seconds in the mixed relay on Saturday – the only sub-50 clocking on the anchor leg in that heat.
Sharlene Mawdsley passed out France and Jamaica in the last lap of the 4x400m relay at the World Athletics Relay Championships. Photograph: Inpho
Across the two days of competition, the top 12 overall teams in each relay – the eight finalists, plus four more from Sunday’s second-chance round – book their place in the 2027 World Athletics Championships.
There are still four places to be decided on times next season, but it seems the mixed relay will miss out. Without Mawdsley and Becker, Sunday’s mixed quartet of Jack Raftery, Jenna Breen, Sean Doggett and Erin Friel ended up seventh and last in their repechage race, clocking 3:19.34. Their time was a long way off South Africa (3:12.77) and Nigeria (3:12.88), who secured the 2027 qualifying berths for Beijing.
Also out in their second-chance repechage race, the Irish women’s 4x100m quartet of Precious Akpe-Moses, Ciara Neville, Mollie O’Reilly and Sarah Leahy came through to finish fourth, in 44.25. That was short of qualification for Beijing, but after failing to finish Saturday’s heat it was a redemption of sorts.