Rhasidat Adeleke secured an automatic qualifying spot into the final of the women's 400m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, while compatriot Sharlene Mawdsley bowed at the penultimate stage.
Adeleke breezed into the semis with a controlled performance in her heat on Sunday, taking victory in a time of 50.80 and posted another sub-50 time in her semi-final to take second place in 49.87 behind the Dominican Olympic silver medalist Marileidy Paulino.
Running from lane five, the Tallaght native appeared to ease herself into the race, picking up the pace as she entered the last round to power down the home stretch and hold off the challenge of Cynthia Bolingo for the second automatic qualifying spot.
Adeleke, who has taken almost a second and a half off the 400m Irish record over the last 12 months, goes into Wednesday's final (8.35pm) as a genuine medal contender.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport's Greg Allen after the race, the 20-year-old admitted that she was a little overly conservative in the early stages of the race.
"I was probably too comfortable in the first 200 metres," she said. "I need to start using my 200 metre speed.
"I had to work too hard in my last 200, but that's something I’m going to use in the next race."
Sharlene Mawdsley's busy week came to a conclusion with a seventh-place place in her 400 metres semi-final.
The Tipperary native secured her passage as one of the fastest non-automatic qualifiers for the semi-finals with a PB of 51.17 a day after running the anchor leg in Sunday's mixed relay final, but had little left in the tank in the second of the three semi-finals.
Her time of 51.78 from the unforgiving lane two was 1.91 seconds behind race winner Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands, edging out Lithuania's Modesta Juste Morauskaite for seventh place.
"I found it really difficult," she told RTÉ Sport. "For my fourth race of this championships, it’s not ideal.
"Getting into the semi-final was my gold medal, I’ve already come sixth in the world (mixed relay). Hopefully I will build on this next year and challenge those girls more."
Mawdsley is back in action in Saturday’s 4 x 400m relay heats.
