Agonising fourth place for women’s relay

Women's 4x100m relay inches from a medal

It was an agonising fourth place finish for the Irish women's 4x100m relay team at the European Junior Athletics Championships in Eskilstuna, Sweden. 

The quartet of Ciara Neville (Emerald), Gina Akpe-Moses (Blackrock, Louth), Roisin Harrison (Limerick) and Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport) combined to finish second in their heat to qualify for the final in 45.66 seconds. Into the final they linked up once more and it looked like bronze was on the cards until it was snatched away in the final meters. Unfortunately they had to settle for a fourth place finish in 45.38 – just three hundredths of a second behind the French.

Men settle for seventh

The men's 4x100m relay team of Eoin Doherty (Tallaght), Zak Irwin (Sligo), Scott Gibson (Bandon) and Joseph Ojewumi (Tallaght) also made the final after they finished fourth in their semi-final in 40.97 seconds. They finished seventh in the final in 41.09.