Ireland's relay teams are relying on Sunday reprieves after missing out on the first of two chances of automatic qualification for the World Championships at the World Athletics Relays in Botswana.
The top two in each of the three heats and the next two quickest teams in all events advanced to Sunday’s final and also punched a ticket to Beijing in 2027.
For those, like Ireland, who missed out on that prize in all three of their races, there is another chance in Sunday's repechages as the remaining teams compete in two heats with the top two advancing to the Worlds.
Ireland’s mixed 4x400m team came closest to qualification on Day 1.
The team – made up of Jack Rafferty, Sophie Becker, Sean Doggett and Sharlene Mawdsley – finished 10th in their heat in a time of 3:12.05.
They are operating without Olympic fourth-placer Rhasidat Adeleke who opted to run in the Texas Invitational this week.
The time was an improvement on their performance at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo when they missed out on the final with a time of 3:13.59.
"The first relay run is always a bit rusty no matter how much we practice," Becker told Athletics Ireland afterwards.
🗣️ "It's been a while since we’ve had a 4x100m team here…That wasn’t what we wanted today, we’ve worked hard and we wanted to show that."
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) May 2, 2026
Reaction from our Women’s 4x100m team after their performance in Round One of the World Athletics Relays in Gaborone. They’ll go again… pic.twitter.com/U8iFL9E9zn
"Nothing is the same as actually racing. Getting a race into our legs since indoors is huge. We're disappointed; we set high standards, but it was a promising run."
"I'm actually happy with that; we walked off the track in Tokyo knowing we didn't qualify," Mawdsley added.
"Now to be a second and a half faster than Tokyo and we're in May, that is really promising."
There was disappointment for the women's 4x100m team as they registered a DNF after failing to get the baton around.
Molly Scott, Ciara Neville, Mollie O’Reilly and Sarah Leahy were the quartet trying to make an impression, but their race came unstuck at the final switchover with the Irish side well back at that stage.
The women’s 4x400m team of Rachel McCann, Jenna Breen, Molly and Daly and Arlene Crossan finished fourth in their heat with a time of 3:29.93 with Canada coming out on top with a time of 3:23.52.
The mixed 4x400m team are up first on Sunday at 1.20pm, followed by the women's 4x400m team at 1.44pm before the women's 4x100m team take to the track at 2.30pm.
