Disappointing start as Mixed Relay team fail to make final at World Athletics Championships

Oisin Lane turned in a solid performance to finish 28th in the men’s 35km race walk, the Mullingar Harrier clocking 2:41:36 in hot and humid conditions, with gold going to Canada’s Evan Dunfee in 2:28:22.

DISAPPOINTMENT: It was a disappointing start for the Irish at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo today, the mixed 4x400m team of Jack Raftery, Sophie Becker, Conor Kelly and Sharlene Mawdsley running below par in the heats, clocking 3:13.59 to finish sixth. Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy

It was a disappointing start for the Irish at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo today, the mixed 4x400m team of Jack Raftery, Sophie Becker, Conor Kelly and Sharlene Mawdsley running below par in the heats, clocking 3:13.59 to finish sixth.

Although the line-up was very different to the one that won European gold in Rome last year, with Mawdsley the only athlete spanning both teams, their time today was a whopping 3.6 seconds down on the national record they ran there. That they didn’t make the final here in Tokyo was not a huge surprise, but that they were over 1.5 seconds away from doing so was.