Sarah Healy and Sophie O'Sullivan both narrowly missed out on automatic qualification for the women's 1500m semi-finals at Paris 2024 with both Team Ireland athletes finishing just outside the coveted top six in their respective heats.
However, in the women's 400m, Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker were unable to qualify from the repechage heats and reach the semi-finals which Rhasidat Adeleke had already qualified for directly from Monday's opening round.
Recently crowned European champion Ciara Mageean was unable to take part in the 1500m heats having announced her withdrawal from the Games due to a long-standing Achilles issue on Monday night.
Running in the first 1500m heat of the morning, O'Sullivan took up a top-five position at the first bend, before placing herself further back, 11th in the pack by the 800m mark.
With the top six qualifying automatically for the semi-final, O'Sullivan was seventh at the final bend but was unable to reel in France's Agathe Guillemot, who finished 0.6 seconds ahead.
However, her time of 4:00.23 was a PB and the 22-year-old will go into the repechage as the eighth fastest overall from the trio of heats.
"It's great, it’s really exciting competing. I thought I had it in my legs there and I got caught up in a tangle with around 150 to go and I kind of lost it which is a little bit annoying, but at least I know I have tomorrow," O'Sullivan said after the race.
"It's unreal when you walk in there, there’s so many Irish flags around the stand, everywhere you look so you don’t even feel nervous. You come out there and you’re right at home and look around and try to pick out people, so that was a really nice thing," she added.
Healy ran in the next heat and having been fourth after the first 400m, the Monkstown native continued to stick near the front, remaining in the same position as the race passed the halfway mark.
Slipping back to the fringe of the top six, the 23-year-old was hanging on to an automatic qualification spot in the final stretch but was just pipped at the line by New Zealand's Maia Ramsden as she fell over the line in seventh in a time of 4:02.91 to join O'Sullivan in the repechage as 17th fastest overall from the three heats.
The repechage round for women's 1500m will be Wednesday at 11.45am Irish time.
In the 400m repechage, later in the morning session, Mawdsley ran in the first of the heats but missed out on a place in the semi-finals.
Starting in lane three, the inside lane of the six-person race, the Tipperary runner finished behind Nigeria's Ella Onojuvwevwo and Poland's Justyna Swiety-Ersetic.
Mawdsley crossed the line third in a time of 51.18 and had to wait to find out if she would be among the two fastest qualifiers.
However, the second heat saw the second and third-place finishers Miranda Charlene Coetzee of South Africa and Czechia's Lurdes Gloria Manuel run faster times to push Mawdsley out of contention.
"I just didn't run my own race. Being in lane three, I’ve everyone outside me and I thought that would play to my advantage, but it probably distracted me a little bit too much," she told RTÉ Sport after the race.
"I am disappointed not to have advanced to the semi-finals but look I’m at the Olympic Games - I got a PB yesterday, I have the World Standard for next year.
"It would have taken a PB to win that race and I just didn't have that in the legs today" - Sharlene Mawdsley missed out on the 400m semi-finals but is looking forward to Friday's relay.
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"Once I was up out of my dry phase I was already aware of the girl outside of me. I thought I'd catch her a little easier which is naive of me because she’s a 50.4 runner and it would have taken me a PB today to win that race and I just didn’t have that in the legs.
"I’m really proud of myself for running a 51.1 - that’s my third race of this championship. I didn’t get better than I was yesterday but lack of sleep, niggles here and there, you’re at the Olympic Games so you’re feeling everything, but that’s the smallest issue," she said.
In Heat 4, Becker started in lane six and ran her second fastest ever time, only being out-paced by USA's Ellis Kendall but her time of 51.28 was not enough to advance to the semi-finals.
Becker was much more happy with her run compared to yesterday's heats where she finished sixth with a time of 51.84.
She told RTÉ Sport: "It's bittersweet, but I’m going to say more sweet. I performed my second-fastest time when I needed to.
"Obviously, I would have loved to be in the semi but it’s the Olympics you need a 50-mid to qualify for a semi-final which is absolutely crazy compared to Tokyo so I’m going to be happy with my performance, I have to be proud of that.
"I kind of fell asleep or lacked a bit of confidence at 250 [yesterday] and that's what was really in my head. I reached 250 and I was like 'come on Sophie’. I tried to stick with the Canadian girl outside me and that actually worked and I got past her so I need to remember that in my next few races.
"I went back to the drawing board last night with my coaches and that’s the plan that worked."
Mawdsley and Becker finished 10th and 11th respectively among the runners across the four repechage heats.
The winners of each of the four heats plus the next two fastest advanced to the semi-finals.
Both Mawdsley and Becker will be part of Ireland's women's 4x400m relay team on Friday.
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