Sharlene Mawdsley: 'It’s really special to have the gear on, and to know I’ll be an Olympian in two weeks’ time is insane'
UNDERSTANDING: Sharlene Mawdsley has declared herself ready, willing and able for both of Ireland’s relay events at the Paris Olympics. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Sharlene Mawdsley has declared herself ready, willing and able for both of Ireland’s relay events at the Paris Olympics, but the Tipperary 400m runner understands that Rhasidat Adeleke may need to take a more singular focus to events at the Stade de France.
Both women were key cogs at the recent European Championships in Rome where Irish quartets won gold and silver in the mixed and women’s 4x400m relays respectively, the first of those coming with the added bonus of a championship record.
“Well, for me, I will go out on the track as many times as I can,” said Mawdsley. “If you tell me to run the marathon, I’ll be like ‘okay’. Well, no, I wouldn’t go that far. But for sure I’ll go out on the track as many times as I can, either before my individual event or after.”
Mawdsley was similarly busy at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, after which she suffered serious injury due, she believes, to that volume of effort. Rome was followed by a chest infection. None of this is giving her pause for thought now.
She says all this without having even looked at how the track and field schedule breaks down, her superstitions and the failure to be selected for Tokyo persuading her that to take a peek at details like that might somehow jinx her hopes.
Official confirmation of her place in all three events only came on Thursday morning so the 25-year old was thrilled as she was fitted for her Ireland teamwear and able to reflect calmly on the “PTSD” that followed her disappointment last time around.
Her determination not to leave this selection up to anyone else was franked by a trip to Paris at Christmas of 2022 when she visited Disneyland and drank some nice French wine in the hope that it would fuel her hunger even further.
It clearly worked. Her PB stands 0.23 inside the required qualifying time.
“It’s really special to have the gear on, and to know I’ll be an Olympian in two weeks’ time is insane.”
As for Adeleke, the Tallaght woman intimated after the silver medal she won in the individual 400m at the Stadio Olimpico last month that the work put into the first of the relays earlier in the meet might have stood against her down the stretch.
She still clocked a national record of 49.07 in the Italian capital but the schedule is less favourable in the upcoming Games with the two relay events sandwiching, and at one point even overlapping, the individual 400m.
It may be that Adeleke can run one or two finals should Ireland make it that far – and other countries will have stars with similar predicaments - but Mawdsley knows that the individual race and ambition has to come first for her teammate.
“Yeah, I think Rhasidat has to make the decision that’s best for her. And I would have no hard feelings at all. It would be a different situation, I don’t think I’m going to be challenging for a gold medal, not this year anyways.
“So I’m not in that position to be able to say what I would do. But I respect her decision regardless of what she does. Of course we would absolutely love to have her on the team, that's no secret, but whatever she does is what's best for her.”
The two 400m stars are among 23 athletes officially listed on the track and field team that will travel to the continent for the Games with Thomas Barr among six additional names now added to the existing list as options for relay spots.
Mawdsley is fairly emblematic of the rising tide that is Irish athletics right now. She is already being asked for pictures when she stops at Junction 14 on the M7 and the team’s successes in Rome have teed Paris up just nicely.
Mawdsley ran her second best time after this summer’s Europeans despite that illness and a course of antibiotics. The goal for Paris is to bring her training form to the track and drop a PB of 50.72 down to around the 50.50 mark.
“I’m not going in to make up the numbers.”
Sarah Lavin (100m Hurdles); Rhasidat Adeleke; Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker (all 400m); Ciara Mageean, Sarah Healy and Sophie O’Sullivan, (all 1500m); Jodie McCann (5000m); Fionnuala McCormack (Marathon); Nicola Tuthill (Hammer Throw); Kate O’Connor (Heptathlon); Mark English (800m); Andrew Coscoran, Cathal Doyle and Luke McCann (all 1500m); Brian Fay (5000m); Eric Favors (Shot Put).
Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley, Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Lauren Cadden, Kelly McGrory, Rachel McCann, Chris O’Donnell, Thomas Barr, Jack Raftery.
Non-Travelling Reserves: Cliodhna Manning, Roisín Harrison.
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