Olympic final elation for 4x400m relay, disappointment for English and Lavin
HISTORIC STEP: Team Ireland relay team, from left, Phil Healy, Kelly McGrory, Sharlene Mawdsley, and Sophie Becker celebrate in Paris. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
Elation for some, frustration for others. That’s always the way it is at this level, and that’s how it was for the Irish team on a pivotal morning at the Stade de France today.
The Irish women’s 4x400m quartet of Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Kelly McGrory and Sharlene Mawdsley produced a fantastic performance to finish third in their heat and advance to tomorrow’s Olympic final. But for Mark English and Sarah Lavin, there was a lingering sense of what might have been even if they could have no regrets at how they’d thrown everything at making an Olympic final, but ultimately came up short.
With Rhasidat Adeleke unavailable for the relay heats due to the individual 400m final this evening, the Irish faced a tough battle to advance without her but they proved more than up to it. Adeleke is expected to be added to the team for the final tomorrow.
Becker got them off to a brilliant start, powering Ireland into the lead with a blazing opening leg of 50.90 seconds and handing off to Healy, who kept them there with a 51.90-second leg. She was challenged by Dutch star Lieke Klaver late in the lap and handed off almost in unison with the Dutch, but McGrory fought her ground brilliantly to claim the lead as she headed around the first turn. The Donegal woman held the lead for much of the leg before tying late and handing off to Mawdsley in fourth after a 52.60-second split.
The Newport sprinter was her typically astute self on the anchor leg, biding her time and running the shortest line before kicking hard up the home straight to overhaul Canada, splitting a blazing 49.65 to bring Ireland home in 3:25.05. Jamaica took victory in 3:24.92 with the Netherlands second in 3:25.03.
“It's unbelievable to come away as Olympic finalists,” said Healy.
“We knew it was going be a tough ask with the draw but to come away with an automatic Q early in the morning, we can't ask for more. It's very, very special to be part of this team.”
Looking ahead to the final, Mawdsley said: “We'll go back and recharge, regroup and we'll see what the plan is. Obviously Rhasidat has her final tonight so it'll probably be a waiting game to see what happens there but we're all guns blazing, we're ready to go.”
There was no joy, however, for Mark English and Sarah Lavin who bowed out in the semi-finals of their respective events. Lavin clocked 12.69 to finish sixth in her 100m hurdles semi-final, well shy of the top two places she needed to automatically advance.
She got off to a strong start, matching many of the world’s best to halfway but in the search for tiny fractions of a second in the crucial closing stages, Lavin clattered a barrier with her trail leg. It proved decisive, costing her a shot at her Irish record of 12.62.
“When you’re looking for a time you haven’t run before, you have to do things you’ve never done before so it’s going to feel different,” she said. “Up until the eighth hurdle, I did everything I could. I couldn’t have any regrets on that or my push from the start or how I got out, but I guess it’s the speed you’re travelling at: you have to lift your knees and it’s not very forgiving.
“I went out with the utmost of concentration I could and knew they would be coming at me and the idea was that you lift those knees the whole way. It's very easy to say that but when you’re in the moment you want to go with the race and unfortunately, I didn’t lift my leg high enough. But would it have been enough? I don’t know.”
Amid her disappointment, Lavin reflected with pride on her Olympics.
“Ultimately this is sport and there’s components of this experience the last two weeks that have touched me and will stay with me more than a gold medal ever could,” she said. “Because of the people you meet and the experiences and the feelings you have and the emotions you have. I’m immensely proud.”
In the semi-finals of the men’s 800m, Mark English made a bold, brave bid to reach his first global final, the Donegal man surging into the lead with 200m to run and going for broke as he chased one of the two automatic qualifying spots. He led around the final turn but was soon swallowed up by a horde of rivals, English finishing a close sixth in 1:45.97, with Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati taking victory in 1:45.08.
“It's not the result I wanted, I wanted to get through, I went for the win but it just wasn't my day,” he said. “My approach was to use my superior 400m speed to get out over the first 200m.
“I looked back statistically at what makes it through these rounds and you're top three at 600m have a 70% probability of going through so I just tried to do that as much as I could and I figured if I could get a jump on the likes of (Ben) Pattison and Sedjati coming into the last 200m, that would be what I needed but the wheels kind of just came off the last 50m.
“It possibly didn't help that I strained my abductor in the warm up as well but I don't want to use that as the excuse. I couldn't have given it any more.”
In the heptathlon, Kate O’Connor started her day with a best of 5.79m in the long jump and returned later in the morning for the javelin, unleashing a 50.36m throw. With just the 800m to come tonight, it leaves her in 14th place on 5249 points, with Belgium’s Nafi Thiam on track for her third straight Olympic title – atop the standings with 5924 points.
O’Connor will go to the line for the 800m at 7.25pm Irish time, with Rhasidat Adeleke’s 400m final at 7pm.
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