Roisin Flanagan secured a personal best time but finished second last in the women's 3,000m final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
The Finn Valley AC athlete finished 15th in the 16-strong field but ran a PB of 8:53.02 in the event, beating her previous best of 8:53.50.
Flanagan is now fifth on the Irish all-time list over the distance, behind Sarah Healy's national record of 8:36.06, which was set in February, at the World Indoor Tour Meet in France.
The race was won by American Elle St. Clair, who set a competition record of 8:20:87 ahead of Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay (8:21:13) and Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya (8:22:68).
Speaking after the race, Flanagan, who is based in Colorado in the United States, said: "It's pretty incredible to be here. When I got the call, I didn’t think twice about it because these opportunities don’t come around too often to race the best of the best and to be in that field".
She continued: "I knew coming in that these athletes had very fast personal bests, so I wanted to run smart and give myself a chance of running a personal best which is what I’ve done, so I have to be happy with that. I was hoping for a little bit faster, especially in that standard of race, but I was pretty dead by the end of it so I’m happy I gave it my all".
Irish interest on Saturday night was limited to Flanagan, following Sharlene Mawdsley's disqualifation in the aftermath of the 400m semi-final on Friday. The Tipperary native crossed the line in third position but was adjudged to have obstructed Austria's Susanne Gogl-Walli towards the end of the race.
On Sunday morning, Sarah Lavin will take part in the women's 60m hurdles heats, with the race going off at 10.46am. The semi-final of the event will take place at 7.40pm, with the final scheduled for 9.00pm.
Mawdsley will be part of Ireland's women's relay team as they take part in the 4x400m heats at 11.38am.
Phil Healy will run the first leg, before handing the baton over to Sophie Becker, with Roisin Harrison running leg three, before Mawdsley looks to take the team home. The final of the event is set for 8.30pm on Sunday night.
