The Irish Mixed 4x400m relay team failed to advance to the final of the event on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Jack Raftery (Donore Harriers), Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock AC), Conor Kelly (Finn Valley AC) and Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) combined to clock a time of 3:13.59 to finish sixth in their heat, 11th overall.
The quartet were disappointed when speaking afterwards, “As a collective we’re disappointed,” Jack Raftery said. “We set such a high standard for ourselves last year, winning in Rome and running so well in Paris that we expect to be in the final every time we come out to a major championship.”
“It was very hard, I thought I was going to pass out afterwards,” Sharlene Mawdsley said. “You can’t have an off day at a World Championships and that’s clearly what we had. It’s our own fault; we made mistakes in the race; it’s just how it goes. We’ll learn so much from this…We’ll be back.”
Earlier, Oisin Lane (Mullingar Harriers) turned in a solid performance to finish 28th in the Men’s 35km Walk. The Westmeath man crossed the line in a time of 2:41:36.
“It was very tough…For the last 10k I was just trying to finish, I wasn’t thinking about my position,” he said. “It’s a huge privilege to be here. So many people dream of this, so many people train so hard for this and don’t get this opportunity. I’ve enjoyed my time here.”
There was disappointment for Eric Favors (Raheny Shamrock AC) who finished 28th overall in Men’s Shot Put Qualification and fails to make the final. The Paris Olympian threw a best of 19.19 metres, down on his season’s best.
Sarah Healy (UCD AC) and Sophie O’Sullivan (Ballymore Cobh AC) stormed into the semi-finals of the Women’s 1500m on the opening day of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Healy, racing at this event for the third consecutive time, showed her class to ease through her heat by placing third. The Dubliner looked comfortable on her way to crossing the line in 4:02.67.
“That was as smooth as I could hope for,” Healy said afterwards. “I’m super relieved to qualify safely, it’s always nerve-wracking but I think it went pretty well…I’ve been in the semi-final once before but for these championships my aim is to improve on last year, there’s no point in getting ahead of myself.”
O’Sullivan certainly had to work harder to seal her place in the semi-final, the 23-year-old showing considerable guts to advance to her first global semi-final. With 50 metres to go, sitting outside the qualification spots O’Sullivan dug deep to qualify, finishing sixth in her heat in a season’s best of 4:02.12.
Laura Nicholson (Bandon AC) was also in action in the Women’s 1500m finishing 13th in her heat in 4:14.12, failing to make the semi-final on her senior major championship debut.
Sunday morning’s session is a busy one for Team Ireland with Olympians Fionnuala McCormack (marathon), Nicola Tuthill (Hammer Throw), Cathal Doyle (1500m), Andrew Coscoran (1500m) and Sarah Lavin (100m Hurdles) all set to take to the track at the Japan National Stadium.
