A miserable opening day for Ireland at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow saw the three in action on the track miss out of qualifying for their respective semi-finals, while Irish interest in the women’s marathon ended after eight kilometres.

Edna Kiplagat made history in becoming the first athlete to win back-to-back women’s marathon world titles in retaining her crown in Moscow this afternoon.

Ireland's former 5000m world champion Sonia O'Sullivan comfortably qualified for Saturday's final in a season's best time of 14 minutes 55.50secs.