Jack Raftery and Sharlene Mawdsley impress for Ireland at European Team Championships

Irish Examiner

8 hours ago

Two superb 400m runs by Jack Raftery and Sharlene Mawdsley, along with a 4x100m national record by the men's relay team, put Ireland firmly in the hunt for promotion after the first day of the European Athletics Team Championships in Maribor, Slovenia on Saturday.
Raftery became just the second Irishman in history to break 45 seconds for 400m when clocking 44.98 to finish fourth in the men's race, while Mawdsley made a hugely impressive return to racing – the Tipperary sprinter clocking a season's best of 50.93 to finish third in the women's race.
Their performances helped Ireland climb to fifth at the halfway stage, their tally of 192 points putting them within touching distance of the top three in division two: Norway (228), Belgium (226.5) and Slovenia (214.5). The top three nations will gain promotion to the first division on Sunday evening, with the bottom three relegated.
The Irish didn't have any winners on day one and while Raftery might not have accrued the most points, his run was the standout individual showing – the 24-year-old Dubliner hacking a massive chunk off his previous best of 45.75 to move second on the Irish all-time list behind David Gillick's national record of 44.77.
'I can't believe that,' he said. 'I don't have the words. I was coming in thinking if I ran 45.5, I'd be delighted.' Raftery has been working under coaches Gerard O'Donnell and Aideen Sinnott at the Dublin Sprint Club and having gone to the Paris Olympics as a sub for the mixed relay, he's now in a great position to make the Tokyo World Championships as an individual, his time just shy of the automatic standard of 44.85.
Mawdsley, running her first race since the Grand Slam Track event in Philadelphia in late May, turned in an excellent showing to dip under 51 seconds for the first time this year, not far off the PB of 50.71 she ran at the Paris Olympics. The race was won by Slovakia's Emma Zapletalova in 50.76.
'I don't even know how I made it around,' said Mawdsley, who was running her first race since the death of her father Thomas (Tucker) in early June. 'A season's best is great. It's a shame I didn't come first, I would have loved the top points.' Mawdsley said she is uncertain of her plans for the coming weeks, adding: 'Today was just about getting out there and doing my family proud.'
The action closed with a huge performance by the Irish in the men's 4x100m where Michael Farrelly, Sean Aigboboh, Marcus Lawler and Israel Olatunde broke the national record for the second time in eight days, clocking 38.88 to win their heat and finish second overall.
'It's a great run,' said Lawler. 'There's a lot of effort gone into this over the years. We're all delighted.' Bori Akinola had to withdraw from that race after sustaining an injury in the 100m, where he finished fourth in his heat, and eighth overall, clocking 10.62 into a 2.2m/s headwind. The Irish 4x100m women's team of Sarah Leahy, Ciara Neville, Lauren Roy and Sarah Lavin clocked 43.97 to win their heat and finish third overall.
Brian Fay secured a runner-up finish in the men's 5000m, the Dubliner showing his vast range of gears on the last lap of a tactical race, clocking 13:56.07 to finish a close second to Belgium's Isaac Kimeli (13:55.70).
Shane Bracken had an impressive run in the men's 1500m, the Mayo man finishing a close third in 3:42.92. Sophie O'Sullivan turned in an off-colour performance in the women's 800m, the recently crowned NCAA 1500m champion coming home eighth in her heat in 2:12.87.
Paris Olympian Eric Favors threw 19.42m to finish fifth in the men's shot put, while David Cussen cleared 2.16m to finish fifth in the high jump. Reigning European U-20 champion Elizabeth Ndudi jumped 6.26m to finish fourth in the long jump, Ava O'Connor finished fourth in the women's 3000m steeplechase in 9:45.09, while Niamh Fogarty threw 52.20m to finish fifth in the discus. Fintan Dewhirst had to battle injury in his heat of the 400m hurdles, trailing home eighth and last in 79.01 seconds but making sure he reached the line to earn some valuable points.
Elsewhere, rising star Conor Kelly broke his own Irish U-20 400m record when clocking 46.06 at the Junioren Gala in Mannheim, Germany, improving the 46.18 record he set in Brussels last month.