Ireland's 4x400m mixed relay team of Sophie Becker, Jack Raftery, Chris O'Donnell and Sharlene Mawdsley collected an impressive sixth placed finish in a dramatic final at the World Championships in Budapest.
The quartet had earlier clocked a time of 3:13.90 seconds to finish fourth in their heat and that was good enough to take the fastest non-automatic qualifying spot and with it a place in this evening's final, which was won by the United States on the line.
The time in the final was slightly down on the heat - 3:14.14 - but it again contained a stunning run from Mawdsley. She had been the fastest of all anchors in the heat with a final leg of of 50.14, and she improved on that with a time of 50.02 in the final.
Team GB picked up a surprise silver with Mary John overtaking Netherlands' star Femke Bol when she fell yards from the line while battling for gold as the United States won.
For Ireland, the performace continued a remarkable run for the mixed relay team who also competed in the final at the World Championships in Oregon last year, as well as the Olympic final in Tokyo.
Ireland's 4x400m mixed relay team of Sophie Becker, Jack Raftery, Chris O'Donnell and Sharlene Mawdsley spoke to @DavidGillick after making it through to the final at the World Championships in Budapest https://t.co/SYakBziqaN #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/YZvs1IKS8M
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 19, 2023
Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy are both through to the 1500m semi-finals. Mageean came home third in her heat in a time of 4:03.52. With the top six in each of the four heats progressing, Healy's time of 4:03.00 saw her take fourth spot.
Sophie O'Sullivan did clock of PB of 4:02.15 to finish eight in what was a fast heat. The European under-23 gold medallist left everything out on the track to finish eight in a blisteringly fast heat, finishing just two places off qualifying for the next round at her first World Championships. It was a time inside Olympic qualification though.
In the men's 1500m, Andrew Coscoran made it through to the semis, coming home sixth in the final heat in 3.34.75.
'I came here with a clear tactic and I executed it pretty well' @AndrewCoscoran tells @DavidGillick that he was satisfied with the way he ran in the heats of the 1500m, where he qualified for the semi-finals #WorldAthleticsChamps #rtesport @irishathletics pic.twitter.com/GkBWp74s9P
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 19, 2023
It looked good for Luke McCann to make the top six as they went past the bend on the final lap, but in the sprint on the home straight he was overtaken, setting for tenth spot in 3:34.76. Still, a PB for the UCD athlete.
Nick Griggs' World Championship debut ended with a 12th-place finish in his heat. The Candour Track Club posted a time of 3:40.72.
Elsewhere Alvaro Martin of Spain captured gold in the 20km race walk, with Kerryman David Kenny withdrawing just before the 16km mark.
Martin moved into the lead with about 5km remaining to finish in one hour 17.32 seconds, the fastest time in the world this season, on the soggy 1km loop course that started and finished at the picturesque Heroes' Square.
Sweden's Perseus Karlstrom won silver in 1:17.39, while Caio Bonfim of Brazil claimed the bronze (1:17.47).
Heptathlon athlete Kate O'Connor ran a personal best of 13.57 in the 100m hurdles after finishing third in her heat.
In the high jump, O'Connor jumped 1.80m on her first attempt, her PB is 1.81m.
A best throw of 13.47m in the shot put for 759 points left her in tenth overall place heading into her final event of the day - the 200m - and she finished the day in 11th with three events to come on Sunday.
Eric Favors finished 13th in Group A of the shot put, to be placed 23rd overall. He had a best throw of 19.65 on his third attempt.
