Sizzling anchor leg from Mawdsley carries Irish into world final

Sharlene Mawdsley’s split of 50.14 was the fastest of any anchor runner.

FINAL BOUND: Sharlene Mawdsley carried the Irish mixed 4x400m team from seventh to fourth in their heat at the World Championships in Budapest this morning – and into their third straight global final. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

With a final leg that was as strong as it was scintillating, as astute as it was awesome, Sharlene Mawdsley carried the Irish mixed 4x400m team from seventh to fourth in their heat at the World Championships in Budapest this morning – and into their third straight global final. It capped a superb first session for the Irish, with Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy also marching into the 1500m semi-finals.

Having finished eighth at the Olympics in Tokyo and eighth in last year’s world final, the pressure was on the mixed relay team to reproduce a similar effort here, and they certainly did, the quartet of Jack Raftery, Sophie Becker, Chris O’Donnell and Mawdsley clocking 3:13.90 to edge Jamaica as the eighth-fastest qualifier for tonight’s final, which goes to the line at 8.49pm Irish time.