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Irish Examiner
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Mission accomplished for Irish in Guangzhou
The Irish might not have walked away from this year's World Relays in Guangzhou, China with any medals, but in terms of their stated goal, this was mission accomplished. In the end, they had to choose which they would prioritise – World Relays medals and prize money or qualification for the World Championships in Tokyo – and they went with the latter, with two of the three teams booking their place at the biggest event of the year. On Sunday, the women's 4x400m team joined the mixed 4x400m in Tokyo with the fearsome duo of Sharlene Mawdsley and Rhasidat Adeleke again proving pivotal to the cause. They were joined by the consistently classy Sophie Becker and the relative newcomer to this level, Rachel McCann, with Mawdsley producing another foot-perfect anchor leg to carry them to victory in the second qualification round in 3:24.69 ahead of Australia (3:27.31) and Switzerland (3:32.37). That left them with a 12th-place finish overall, given they had finished third in the first round and come up short of the final on Saturday – when Adeleke and Mawdsley were unavailable due to mixed relay commitments. They had to secure a top-three finish in the second round to book their place in Tokyo, which looked a certainty, barring calamity, given the calibre in their ranks. Becker produced another superb opening leg, splitting 51.41 out of the blocks to hand over to Adeleke close to the front. The Dubliner coasted through the opening half of her leg before turning on the jets and handing over to McCann in front after a 50.38-second leg. McCann ran well through the opening 300m then tied up slightly in the home straight, splitting 52.89, leaving Mawdsley to stalk Australia's Alanah Yukich on the anchor leg, with the Tipperary native launching her attack on the final bend and leaving her rivals trailing, hitting the line over two and a half seconds clear. 'The girls put me in a great position and I love to chase,' said Mawdsley. 'It was a smart run and I'm really happy to be getting that experience in early in the season as what happened in Paris, I really don't want that to happen again. It's all about learning and looking forward to the rest of the summer.' The Ireland women's 4x400m relay team, from left, Sophie Becker, Rachel McCann, Sharlene Mawdsley and Rhasidat Adeleke. Pic: Nikola Krstic/Sportsfile For Adeleke, who's very much still in the foundational phase of her season, it marked the end of a fruitful 10-day visit to China, having finished second in the Keqiao Diamond League over 200m the previous weekend. 'I think we have solidified ourselves as one of the best relays in the world and we're just continuing that,' she said. 'I'm really excited to see what we can do at the World Championships now that we're qualified. We're building. I'm building every race and getting back into shape, and I'm really excited to see what this season holds for all of us – individually and as a team.' There was no such joy, however, for the Irish men's 4x400m team of Conor Kelly, Cillín Greene, Chris O'Donnell and Jack Raftery, which came up short of World Championship qualification after finishing seventh in the second qualification round in 3:04.42. 'We did find it tough out there, we'd have liked to do better but it's a very, very strong standard – there's zero weak teams out there,' said O'Donnell. 'To put the progress into perspective, we didn't qualify last year, we haven't been here in 10 years. This was the first step – getting here – and we weren't good enough, there's no excuses, but next year and the year after, ultimately, we want this team to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games. We're better than we were last year, and we'll be better again next year.' The last Irish interest of the event came in the mixed 4x400m final, where the quartet of Jack Raftery, Phil Healy, Aaron Keane and Lauren Cadden finished eighth in 3:19.64. Without the services of Adeleke and Mawdsley, who helped them into the final on Saturday, it was always going to be an uphill battle to beat any of their rivals and the Irish finished over three seconds adrift of the rest, with Raftery's performance the shining light among them – the Dubliner splitting a superb 45.89 from the blocks less than an hour lining up in the men's 4x400m. 'I'm delighted,' said Raftery. 'I felt great out of the blocks. I put the spikes back on, felt brilliant and when the foot went down with 150 to go, the wheels were there. To run an equal PB after a flat-out 400m just before it, I couldn't ask for anymore.' Healy reflected with pride on the Irish showing at the World Relays. 'It's an absolutely super weekend,' she said. 'We wanted to get as many teams as we could qualified and it's phenomenal to be at the (World) championships in the mixed and women's. We belong at these major championships and we obviously can contend for medals now as well. "The job is done now, everybody goes back and focuses on their individual season, then we'll come back together for (European) team champs and then the World Championships.'
Qatar Tribune
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Qatar Tribune
Impressive wins in Shanghai for Duplantis, Warholm and Mahuchikh
Diamond League Shanghai World record holders Mondo Duplantis, Karsten Warholm and Yaroslava Mahuchikh all sealed impressive victories at the Shanghai/Keqiao Diamond League on Saturday, while US athlete Cordell Tinch produced a spectacular performance in the 110m hurdles, clocking a world lead, meeting record and personal best of 12.87 (0.6m/s). That moved Tinch joint-fourth on the world all-time list, smashing his previous best of 12.96 and bringing him home well clear of Rachid Muratake (13.10) and Rasheed Broadbell (13.24). 'I felt like I was going to run something fast, but I didn't know it would be 12.8 fast,' said Tinch. Duplantis maintained his winning streak in the men's pole vault and soared over a meeting record of 6.11m on his first attempt, before putting the bar up to a world record of 6.28m. Greece's Emmanouil Karalis took second with 6.01m. Mahuchikh cleared 2.00m to take victory in the women's high jump, with Nicola Olyslagers next best with 1.98m and Eleanor Patterson third with 1.95m. Chase Jackson produced a superb throw of 20.54m to set a meeting record in the women's shot put, the US star opening with 20.49m and then adding 5cm to her leading mark in the fourth round, with Dutch athlete Jessica Schilder second with 19.77m and Sweden's Fanny Roos third with 19.66m. Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma set a national record of 1:56.64 to take victory in the women's 800m, which was also a world lead and meeting record. She produced a scintillating last 100 metres to come home clear of Sarah Billings of Australia, who set a big PB in second of 1:57.83. There was another Ethiopian win in the men's 5000m where Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Berihu Aregawi set a meeting record of 12:50.45, holding on up the home straight to defeat the late charge of compatriot Kuma Girma, who set a PB of 12:50.69 in second. Pedro Pichardo returned to action in the men's triple jump and the Tokyo Olympic champion got his season off to a winning start, jumping 17.03m in the first round, his best mark of the night, which was enough for victory. Jamaica's Jordan Scott was next best with 17.00m. In the men's 400m, Christopher Bailey produced a flying finish to take victory in a PB of 44.17, the US athlete beating Bayapo Ndori, who clocked 44.32 in second. Olympic champion Quincy Hall returned from a long injury layoff and finished eighth in 45.99. Grace Stark set a meeting record of 12.42 (0.3m/s) to take victory in the women's 100m hurdles, with Danielle Williams second in 12.55 and Marione Fourie third in 12.62.
