Sarah Lavin capped a superb a World Indoor Championships performance with a fifth-placed finish in the final of the 60m hurdles.
The Emerald AC athlete clocked a time of 7.91 – just a hundredth of the a second outside the personal best she managed in the morning’s heat and this evening’s semi-final – lunging to finish fifth in a world-class field.
The quality of the field was underlined by the world record time run from winner Devynne Charlton, the Bahamas sprinter crossing the line in 7.65.
France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela took silver in 7.74, while Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska finished third.
For the 29-year old Lavin, it was a second successive appearance in the world indoor final and a significant improvement on her performance in Belgrade.
The Limerick sprinter finished seventh in the final in March 2022, posting a time of 8.07. Her 7.91 time this evening would have earned her a fourth-placed finish two years ago.
“To finish 5th in the world is amazing and to do it in final where the world record was broken too,” Lavin remarked after the race.
“7.79 won bronze today, and that’s never be required before to win a medal so it just shows where the standard is going.
“We’ve a Europeans in June which I want to be really competitive at, but the Olympics is everything, it’s the biggest stage in the world. Paris will be sensational so I’m really looking forward to what’s to come.”
🗣️ “I just really want a major medal…I’m getting closer and closer.”
Sarah Lavin speaks to us after her fantastic fifth place finish in the final of the Women’s 60m Hurdles at the World Indoor Championships ⭐️#WICGlasgow24 #IrishAthletics pic.twitter.com/KbSFGCeulG
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) March 3, 2024
Looking forward to her outdoor season, Lavin said “We’ve a Europeans in June which I want to be really competitive at, but the Olympics is everything, it’s the biggest stage in the world. Paris will be sensational so I’m really looking forward to what’s to come”.
Earlier, the Ireland women’s relay team likewise finished fifth in the final of the 4x400m at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
The team of Phil Healy, Sophie Becker, Róisín Harrison and Sharlene Mawdsley clocked a time of 3:28.92, just outside their new national record set in this morning’s semi-final.
Netherlands took the gold, with world champion Femke Bol running the anchor leg, holding off USA down the final stretch. Great Britain took bronze.
The Irish quartet placed fifth, just behind the Belgians, with the much vaunted Jamaicans failing to finish after dropping the baton at the end of the second leg.
Mawdsley, who was controversially disqualified from the 400m having apparently sealed her place in the final, again impressed, running the fastest final leg with a time of 50.47.
This was marginally faster than her split in the morning’s semi-final, when she was the fastest of the 16 runners.
Mawdsley commented afterwards: “I never felt pain like that before, I left everything on the track out there. We have a great group of girls involved in the relay squad now and Irish athletics in general is in such a great place, so I think a lot of other teams are going to be watching out for Ireland at future championships.”
Our Women’s 4x400m Relay team caught up with us after they finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships 🙌🏻
Super performance 🤩#WICGlasgow24 #IrishAthletics pic.twitter.com/0fXPa7gjf2
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) March 3, 2024
Healy, who led the team out on a strong opening leg, said: “It’s a testament to the squad we have. We’ve great subs back in warm up and the team is constantly changing which drives everyone on.
“It’s a big year for us, we have World Relays in a few weeks, a European Championships, and an Olympic Games (subject to qualification), so to come 5th in the world, and to be so close to the national record again is really super for this team.”
The Irish team had earlier qualified for the final after posting a new national record of 3:28.45 to progress as one the fastest qualifiers – facing a nervous wait before confirmation arrived.
For Mawdsley, that run provided some atonement for Friday’s controversial events.
“I had my redemption today – I’m walking away today as a world finalist finally,” she told RTÉ Sport’s Greg Allen.
“I’m really happy with that, I couldn’t ask for much better from the girls, they put me into a great position.
“When there’s not such a big gap you think you’re unstoppable and that’s what I thought I was today.”
“I had my cry, a few cries,” she added of the 24 hours after her DQ.
“Yesterday I had relay training with the girls and I got up and I went and they just made me forget about it. They were all as hungry as I was and as disappointed for me as I was.
“I literally had the backing of the whole country. Coming out today I was like ‘just take in it’. That was my redemption, I fought every bit I could and, yeah, we got into a world final.”
Mawdsley’s teammate Healy said the controversial disqualification earlier in the week had provided motivation for the entire team.
“We had so much, I suppose, that we wanted to do, especially after Sharlene the last day – we had a lot to give back to Sharlene, we wanted Sharlene to leave as a world finalist just as much as well all wanted to make that world final as well.
“We all had our part to play and we all collectively did that and we have a world final tonight and everything is to play for.”
