Athletics: Mawdsley needs 'more confidence' she can hit her racing goals

Louise Shanahan has relocated to Belfast under new coach Mark Kirk and fallen in with a training group that contains teenage talent Nick Griggs.

18 February 2024; Sharlene Mawdsley of Newport AC, Tipperary, with her senior women's 400m gold medal she wona at the 123.ie National Senior Indoor Championships . Pic: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile

Sharlene Mawdsley came to Abbotstown chasing Phil Healy’s 400m championship record. It didn’t work out. No matter. Mawdsley has two weeks to the World Indoors in Glasgow where she will aim higher again.

A stress fracture in her knee delayed the start of Mawdsley’s 2024 season. It was only eight weeks ago when she feared the indoor season would come and go without her getting down into the blocks and bumping elbows at the bell.