{"id":430387,"date":"2026-05-03T15:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T15:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/430387\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T15:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T15:50:13","slug":"mawdlsey-runs-scorching-last-leg-as-womens-4x400-team-stamp-world-champs-ticket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/430387\/","title":{"rendered":"Mawdlsey runs scorching last leg as women&#8217;s 4&#215;400 team stamp World Champs ticket"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>IRELAND WOMEN\u2019S 4x400M relay team qualified for next year\u2019s World Championships thanks to a sensational anchor leg from Sharlene Mawdsley.<\/p>\n<p>Mawdsley clocked a 48.34 leg in Sunday afternoon\u2019s second qualifying round at the World Athletics Relay in Gaborone, Botswana, reeling in France and Jamaica on the final lap to deliver an Irish win.<\/p>\n<p>The quartet of Rachel McCann, Sophie Becker, Arlene Crossan and Mawdsley ran a season\u2019s best\u00a03:23.83, beating France by a little less than seven-tenths of a second.<\/p>\n<p>Sunday\u2019s run confirms Ireland\u2019s place at the next World Championships, which take place in Beijing in September 2027.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\" xml:lang=\"en\">Our Women\u2019s 4x400m team react after THAT epic performance at the World Athletics Relays in Botswana! \ud83d\ude4c<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IrishAthletics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#IrishAthletics<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WorldRelays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#WorldRelays<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bqndtJoEws\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/bqndtJoEws<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/irishathletics\/status\/2050930586299117993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 3, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely chuffed,\u201d Becker told Athletics Ireland afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSharlene and I ran the numbers last night, and we were like, if we all did what we did yesterday [Saturday], we\u2019ll run a 3:23, so I\u2019m absolutely delighted, I\u2019m so proud, and it just goes to show the depth that we are building here in Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mawdlsey added: \u201cThis women\u2019s team has been together for the longest time, and we just thought, let\u2019s give ourselves a performance to be proud of, and we did that. I\u2019m just absolutely thrilled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Arlene gave me the baton in third, I was like, you better stay in third because I like to chase, and I knew if I got in third close by the Jamaican, I thought we\u2019d come second, but we won.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1777823413_12_.JPEG\"  alt=\"rachel-mccann-sophie-becker-arlene-crossan-and-sharlene-mawdsley-celebrate\" class=\"aligncenter inline-image\" \/><br \/>\n            Rachel McCann, Sophie Becker, Arlene Crossan and Sharlene Mawdsley celebrate.                    \u00a9INPHO<\/p>\n<p>    \u00a9INPHO\n<\/p>\n<p>Earlier on Sunday, Ireland\u2019s mixed 4x400m team of Jack Raftery, Jenna Breen, Sean Doggett and Erin Friel missed out on qualification when they finished eighth in 3:19.34.<\/p>\n<p>There was disappointment as well for the women\u2019s 4x100m team of Precious Akpe-Moses, Ciara Neville, Mollie O\u2019Reilly and Sarah Leahy who finished fourth in\u00a044.25.<\/p>\n<p>                <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IRELAND WOMEN\u2019S 4x400M relay team qualified for next year\u2019s World Championships thanks to a sensational anchor leg from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[20675,61,60,187985,20871,112],"class_list":["post-430387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-athletics","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-on-the-plane","tag-sharlene-mawdsley","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}