‘He's looking down on me' beams emotional Sharlene Mawdsley as she pays tribute to late dad following return to racing
The Tipperary athlete, 26, clocked a season's best time to finish third in the
Women
's 400m at the European Team Championships in
2
Sharlene Mawdsley finished third in the 400m at the European Team Championships
2
She dedicated her performance to her late dad
Credit: Instagram/sharlenem1
It was her first taste of competitive racing since the untimely death of her dad Thomas at the age of 67.
And speaking afterwards,
She said: "I think the thing was I going to have to
race
eventually or he would probably haunt me.
"Initially, I wasn't doing Team Championships. The lane then became available and I thought maybe that's a sign.
Read More on Sharlene Mawdsley
"To run a season's best is a
nice
boost, I guess, for the rest of the season and now I know he is looking down on me.
"He got me through that race so I'm sure it is going to be an upward trajectory for the rest of the season."
Mawdsley had
not raced since
in Philadelphia at the start of June.
In addition to that showing on the Sunday at the big-money Grand Slam Track event, she also came sixth in the long sprints category 24 hours previous.
Most read in Athletics
For that performance, she banked $15,000 with Olympic 400m gold medallist Marileidy Paulino coming out on top.
Mawdsley wound up in fifth place.
Sharlene Mawdsley shows off makeup before Zagreb race
Once again, she clocked a season's-best time in that race at 51.12.
And the
Paris
Olympian hopes that she can carry her performance from
She told
"It is a shame I didn't come first. I would have loved the top points but it probably would have taken a PB to do that today.
"I am looking forward to cheering on the rest of the team now.
"It is going to be an exciting couple of days.
"I don't know what my plans are for the
next
few days.
"Today was just about getting out there and doing my
family
proud."
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