Cruel night for the Irish at World Indoors as Sharlene Mawdsley disqualified after reaching 400m final
DQ:Ireland’s Sharlene Mawdsley during her 400m semi-final at the World Indoor Athletics Championships. Picture: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Sharlene Mawdsley faced triumph and disaster, and ultimately heartbreak, at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow on Friday night. Having produced the performance of her life to qualify for her first global final, she had it snatched from her grasp after getting disqualified for obstruction.
Mawdsley pulled out a magnificent run to finish third in the 400m semi-final, clocking 52.16 and taking the last qualifying spot for Saturday night’s final. In what was a typically rough indoor 400m, she made her decisive move entering the final turn, moving from fourth up to third and cutting in on Austria’s Susanne Gogl-Walli, who then was forced to check her stride.
The rules state an athlete is liable for disqualification if they jostle or obstruct another athlete. It's typically interpreted as requiring you to leave one stride length of space before cutting in, which Mawdsley didn't quite have at the time. However, the rule is one that’s very rarely enforced in indoor running, where some level of contact is par for the course – especially over 400m.
“I was hoping to go for third at the break but it didn’t happen and I thought, why not make the move on the back straight?” said Mawdsley after the race and before she learned of the disqualification. “I needed to put myself in contention.”
Again, still seems like a very harsh decision pic.twitter.com/agsX0mz3Ed
— John (@dafneflippers) March 1, 2024
Mawdsley’s infraction was not initially picked up but an appeal by the Austrian team soon led to her disqualification. A subsequent counter-appeal by the Irish team, arguing that Mawdsley held her racing line and highlighting how often the same incident occurs in indoor racing – without being penalised – was unsuccessful.
“The jury’s view is that the Austrian athlete was obstructed as described in Rule 17.13,” said the decision. “Contrary to the statement in the appeal, the Irish athlete did not maintain her racing line. The Jury therefore upholds the referee’s decision and the result as published stands.”
It brought a cruel end to what had been a superb night at the Emirates Arena for the Newport sprinter. For the Irish team it also added insult to injury, given Sarah Healy’s championships came to a frustrating end in the 1500m heats earlier in the night.
The Dubliner had turned for home in the lead, but then her legs betrayed her at the key moment as she faded from first to fourth. As the cavalry charged from behind, Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom made contact with Healy’s arms which unsettled her stride. Healy stumbled and soon her legs buckled, the Dubliner crashing to the track, faceplanting shy of the finish.
She rose to her feet, jogged across the line in sixth, but with only the top three to advance that felt like a worthless return.
“I just was too impatient,” she said, ruing the surge down the back straight that took her past the race favourite, Haylom. “I think it cost me. I just can't believe that happened to be honest. It certainly feels like a wasted opportunity, for sure.”
Nonetheless, it’s been a breakthrough season for Healy, who has set Irish indoor records over 1500m and 3000m, and having been well off the pace at previous championships, this was a very different kind of disappointment.
This time, Healy proved she can run with the world’s best. “I know who I am,” she said. “I'll be back.” There was disappointment for Israel Olatunde in the 60m heats, the Irish record holder coming up short of qualification despite a season’s best of 6.70, which brought him home fourth.
“I did come up short but I have to be proud of that with a season’s best,” said Olatunde, who ran the Irish record of 6.57 last year. “I feel like I’m right where I need to be considering the season I had, with illnesses and different obstacles I had, but I’m leaving this in the right mindset – positive and excited for the rest of the season.”
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