Ireland's mixed relay team have tough 4x400m semi-final

ATHLETICS GET UP AND RUNNING: Team Ireland athletes, from left, Cathal Doyle, Thomas Barr, Eric Favors, Jack Raftery, and Sharlene Mawdsley during a training session at the Stade de France.  Picture: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

The task facing Ireland is a tough one, but then there’s no easy races at this level. The mixed 4x400m relay team of Chris O’Donnell, Sophie Becker, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley will go to the line at 6.22pm Irish time this evening and know that if they get it right, another global final will await tomorrow.   

For Barr and O’Donnell, the mixed relay will have their full focus in Paris, while Becker and Mawdsley will also have the individual 400m to come on Monday. In this evening’s heat, the Irish face the Netherlands, Britain, Italy, Ukraine, Nigeria, Dominican Republic and Germany. Only the top three will advance to the final automatically, with two additional time qualifiers across the heats.

Ireland will be without Rhasidat Adeleke for both the heat and the final, should they make it, the Dubliner fully focused on her medal chance in the 400m next week, likely conscious that the effort she unleashed in Rome to help Ireland to European mixed 4x400m gold might well have cost her victory in the 400m final that followed. With an individual Olympic medal on the line here – the greatest prize in athletics – it makes sense that she’s followed what the vast majority of those in her position have done in since the mixed relay was introduced at global level in 2017 and focused on her individual race. She would be available for the women’s 4x400m final the following week should the Irish qualify.

The first of the Irish in action at the Stade de France today will be in the men’s 1500m heats at 10.10am. The top six will advance to the semi-finals with the rest headed to the repechage, a new addition to the Olympic programme this year that has few fans in the sport ahead of its unveiling. 

It’s understood one reason for its introduction is to increase the broadcast hours athletics will get at the Games, while also giving every competitor in flat events from 200m to 1500m a chance to compete twice.

However, the likelihood of many athletes who were eliminated in the first round pulling off an upset in the semi-finals – while carrying the fatigue of an extra race in their legs – is slim.

Cathal Doyle will race the first 1500m heat, lining up alongside world champion Josh Kerr, the Briton who is on a collision course with Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway in the final. 

The 26-year-old Dubliner goes to the line in sparkling form, having taken an impressive win at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku in June and a memorable  victory at the Morton Games in Dublin last month. Doyle’s personal best of 3:34.09 is some way down on most of his rivals, but he is tailor-made for these tactical situations and should put up a bold show.

Irish record holder Andrew Coscoran will race the third heat and the 28-year-old Balbriggan man will have high hopes of going one step higher than the semi-final he reached in Tokyo. However, it will be a tough task for Coscoran, who’s had an inconsistent season but who undoubtedly has the class to contend for the final if back to his best.

It will be a memorable day in Paris for the McCann family as siblings Luke and Jodie both make their Olympic debuts, Luke going in heat two of the men’s 1500m in the morning and Jodie racing the second heat of the women’s 5000m in the evening. 

Eric Favors will open his account in the qualification round of the men’s shot put at 7.10pm. The first major final to look forward to on the track is the men’s 10,000m which will conclude tonight’s schedule at 8.20pm Irish time