News

Morning Session

Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC) has powered into tonight’s final of the Women’s 60m Hurdles at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

The Limerick athlete clocked a time of 7.94 seconds to place second in her semi-final behind Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska (7.88 seconds).

Lavin’s time ranks her fourth going into the decider which takes place at 8:43pm Irish Time.

Earlier in the session both Mark English (Finn Valley AC) and Cian McPhillips (UCD AC) advanced to the semi-finals of the Men’s 800m.

English, who is a two-time medallist at these championships, showed his experience and considerable tactical nous to qualify, waiting patiently before finding a gap in the home straight to cross the line in second in a time of 1:46.12.

“It could’ve went any way to be honest. The seedings were a bit strange so I was quite nervous going into the race but thankfully I came through. I was only looking at the top two [automatic qualifying spots]. I figured if I want to do anything at these championships I needed to finish in the top two,” English said afterwards.

McPhillips’ progression wasn’t so smooth. The Longford native fell in the final lap after being impeded but returned to his feet to finish the race. The track referee later advanced him to semi-final.

In the Women’s 400m, Rachel McCann (North Down AC) clocked an excellent personal best time of 53.16 seconds to finish fourth in her heat. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to advance but McCann was pleased with her performance.

There was disappointment for Lauren Cadden (Sligo AC) who finished sixth in her heat of the same event, crossing the line in 56.57 seconds.

Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) was forced to withdraw from the event after she picked up a slight injury to her hamstring in the warm-up. The Tipperary sprinter has now also pulled out of the Women’s 400m and will focus on her recovery as she looks ahead to a busy outdoor season.

Evening Session

Sarah Lavin went on to finish 4th in the 60m hurdles final at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn this evening. Running out of lane 6, the Emerald AC athlete produced a huge run to clock a season’s best time of 7.92 in a stacked sprint final which was won in a new European record time of 7.67 by Ditaji Kambundji (SUI) .

Speaking after the race, Lavin said, “It’s probably the fastest fourth place ever. I’m competing with the best girls ever, that have been in Europe. I still have the World indoors in two weeks’ time in China, but at the same time, I’ve gone 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th in the last 4 major championships.

“4th is 4th, no one is happy with 4th. It’s just one of those things, but at the same time, considering where I was a few weeks ago…..I’m sure I’ll look back in a few days and be more measured about it. I just need to raise my own standards, and we’ll find a way.”

Lavin’s attention will now turn to the World Indoor Championships which take place in Nanjing, China, from March 21st – 23rd.

The medals went the way of Ditaji Kambundji (SUI) 7.67 ER, Nadine Visser (NED) 7.72 NR, and Pia Skrzyszowska (POL) 7.83 SB.

Tomorrow morning will be Ireland’s busiest session of these championships thus far with six athletes taking to the track across the endurance and sprints events. Olympians Sarah Healy (UCD AC) and Jodie McCann (Dublin City Harriers) will lead the way in round 1 of the 3000m from 9.20am, while national 60m sprint champion Bori Akinola (UCD AC) will make his championship debut as an individual in the heats of the men’s 60m from 11am.

Andrew Coscoran (Star of the Sea AC) and James Gormley (Carmen Runners AC) will headline a strong Irish challenge in the first round of a stacked looking men’s 3,000m from 11.45am.

Paralympic bronze medallist Orla Comerford (Raheny Shamrock AC) will sign off the opening session of day three with the Raheny sprinter set to go in the Para 60m mixed classification race at 12.17pm.

Full Day 2 results can be found HERE.