Sarah Lavin fell agonisingly shy of a place in the Women's 100m hurdle final at the World Athletics Championships but managed to smash the national record of Derval O’Rourke in a fantastic fifth-placed effort.
The Limerick runner took three-hundredths of a second off O’Rourke’s mark of 12.65, clocking 12.62 in a red-hot semi-final.
𝗦𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗵 𝗟𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝘀 𝗮 𝟭𝟮.𝟲𝟮 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗱! 🔥
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) August 23, 2023
A phenomenal performance and achievement for Sarah! 👏@DervalORourke set that bar so high!!💚
pic.twitter.com/p0b3cOSIpU
American Keni Harrison took first spot in 12:33 with Lavin’s time not quite sharp enough to gain her a place in the final. In finally edging past O’Rourke at the top of the national hurdling speed charts, she has now lowered her personal best four times this season.
An emotional Lavin, who lost her boyfriend, rally star Craig Breen, in an accident earlier this year, described the result as "bittersweet" afterwards.
"Finally, fastest Irishwoman to ever do this," she said. "[The record] survived 13 years. There's 13 years to the day between Derval and me - such a weird synchronicity. I'm sorry Derval, but you did make me work bloody tough for it!"
Huge run by @sarahlavin_
— Derval O'Rourke (@DervalORourke) August 23, 2023
in a brand new Irish record 🎉🎉🎉
Brilliant to see on the world stage ☘️
Congratulations Sarah 🎉 & to coach Noelle Morrissey #newirishrecord #WorldAthleticsChampionships
"I've ran 12.6 now on three occasions this year, I didn't just pull it from the sky. I wanted to get into the 50s today and I believed it was possible. I did make an error on hurdle nine and that's a costly mistake.
"The standards of women's hurdles at the moment is incredible. But I hope it will help me run a time that I otherwise would have only dreamt of."
Meanwhile new world champion Josh Kerr knew he would break Jakob Ingebrigtsen as he stormed to 1500 metres gold and revealed he played mind games with the Norwegian.
The Scot clocked three minutes and 29.38 seconds to stun Ingebrigtsen, forcing the overwhelming favourite to settle for silvert.
Kerr emulated Jake Wightman's win in Eugene last year and, with the injured Wightman missing in Hungary, Ingebrigtsen – second in 2022 – was denied the world crown again.
"I felt him break and I just needed to stay strong," said Kerr, who adds to his Olympics bronze.
"I was looking up at the screen making sure no one was coming on my outside but with 50m to go I knew I had it."
Elsewhere American Katie Moon and Australia's Nina Kennedy decided to share the women's pole vault gold medal in another magical moment in Budapest.
Their decision had echoes of Qatar's Mutaz Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi sharing the high jump gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
The two women cleared 4.90 metres in a dramatic final that stretched two hours and 10 minutes, but both missed on all three attempts at 4.95 and decided to share the victory rather than go to a jump-off.
Finally, Karsten Warholm of Norway returned to the top of the global medal podium, racing to his third victory in the 400m hurdles.
The world record holder and Olympic champion pulled away from American Rai Benjamin heading into the home straight to win in 46.89, spreading his arms wide in celebration.
The 27-year-old won the 2017 and 2019 world championships, but struggled to seventh at the worlds last season in Eugene when he was hampered by a hamstring injury.
"It feels incredibly good to have the gold around my neck again," Warholm told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "I fought all I could in the last 100 metres."
Kyron McMaster won silver in 47.34 to earn the first world championships medal for the British Virgin Islands.
