Sharlene Mawdsley returns as Irish trio prepare for $10m Ultimate Championship

Mawdsley, Rhasidat Adeleke and Mark English are all set to fly the flag for Ireland at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest

Sharlene Mawdsley injured her hamstring six weeks ago, ruling her out of the European Championships. Pic: Mark Kavanagh/Sportsfile

Sharlene Mawdsley will return to racing in Rovereto, Italy on Tuesday evening, the Tipperary sprinter lining up in the 400m just over six weeks on from the hamstring tear that ruled her out of last month’s European Championships.

Mawdsley pulled up during the 200m at the nationals in late July and faced a race against time to recover for the Europeans, but was forced to withdraw just three days before the event began in Birmingham.

She will race the 400m at 7.40pm Irish time at the Palio Città della Quercia meeting in Rovereto and the 28-year-old is the quickest in the field via the lifetime best of 50.06 that she ran in Paris in June, with Italy’s Anna Polinari, who’s run 50.36, the next fastest.

The Newport sprinter is set to make a quick turnaround to race over 400m at the inaugural edition of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, which runs from Friday to Sunday. She is 13th on the ‘Road to the Ultimate’ rankings, with 16 spots available and the final qualifying opportunity elapsing at last weekend’s Diamond League final in Brussels.

Rhasidat Adeleke and Mark English are also set to fly the flag for Ireland in Budapest, with Adeleke ranked 16th in the women’s 200m and English ranked seventh in the 800m. The world’s best athletes will race off for record prize money at the three-day event with €129,000 ($150,000) for first place, €64,500 ($75,000) for second and €34,000 ($40,000) for third – the prize pool across disciplines totalling €8.6m ($10 million).

Following English’s victory at the Europeans, the Donegal athlete returned to altitude in Sierra Nevada, Spain to prepare for the event in Budapest, giving up his place in last weekend’s Diamond League final. He will face a tough assignment on Saturday night to advance from his semi-final but is enjoying the best season of his career, having lowered his PB to 1:42.97 in July before claiming his first major championship gold last month.

Adeleke has raced once since claiming European silver in Birmingham, clocking 22.85 over 200m in Brescia, Italy last week. Having missed the early part of the season due to a hamstring tear in June, she bounced back in stunning fashion to win silver at the Europeans, breaking her Irish record with 22.28. The Dubliner is also due to compete over 200m at the Athlos meeting in London on September 18.

Several other Irish athletes will be in action in Rovereto, with Bori Akinola racing the 100m, Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan in the 1500m, Eric Favors in the shot put and Brian Fay in the 3000m.

Healy, O’Sullivan and Fay are all part of the Irish team for the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen on September 19-20, where Healy and O’Sullivan will race the mile, while Fay is due to compete there over 5km.

Andrew Coscoran, who was bumped out of a qualifying position for the Ultimate Championship last week, will contest the mile in Copenhagen alongside Cathal Doyle, who ran 3:55 to finish fifth at the New Balance Kö Mile in Dusseldorf on Sunday.