Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC) has powered into tonight’s final of the Women’s 60m Hurdles at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

The Limerick athlete clocked a time of 7.94 seconds to place second in her semi-final behind Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska (7.88 seconds).

Lavin’s time ranks her fourth going into the decider which takes place at 8:43pm Irish Time.

Earlier in the session both Mark English (Finn Valley AC) and Cian McPhillips (UCD AC) advanced to the semi-finals of the Men’s 800m.

English, who is a two-time medallist at these championships, showed his experience and considerable tactical nous to qualify, waiting patiently before finding a gap in the home straight to cross the line in second in a time of 1:46.12.

“It could’ve went anyway to be honest. The seedings were a bit strange so I was quite nervous going into the race but thankfully I came through. I was only looking at the top two [automatic qualifying spots]. I figured if I want to do anything at these championships I needed to finish in the top two,” English said afterwards.

McPhillips’ progression wasn’t so smooth. The Longford native fell in the final lap after being impeded but returned to his feet to finish the race. The track referee later advanced him to semi-final.

In the Women’s 400m, Rachel McCann (North Down AC) clocked an excellent personal best time of 53.16 seconds to finish fourth in her heat. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to advance but McCann was pleased with her performance:

“I’m really happy to produce that on my international debut in the individual event. I’m hoping that that has solidified my place in the women’s relay on Sunday, I’ve been dying to get on the team,” she said.

There was disappointment for Lauren Cadden (Sligo AC) who finished sixth in her heat of the same event, crossing the line in 56.57 seconds.

Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) was forced to withdraw from the event after she picked up a slight injury to her hamstring in the warm-up. The Tipperary sprinter has now also pulled out of the Women’s 400m and will focus on her recovery as she looks ahead to a busy outdoor season.

• Full results HERE

Team Ireland Schedule: Irish Time (Local time in brackets)

Evening Session – Friday March 7^th

• Sarah Lavin – Women’s 60m Hurdles – Final – 20:43 (21:43)

Where to watch

RTÉ Sport will bring you comprehensive live coverage across the 4 days. See RTÉ listings for details.

European Athletics & RTÉ Player will also be live streaming all the action from Apeldoorn 2025 via their ‘EUROVISON’ platform.

Athletics Ireland will be posting the latest updates and results across all of our social media channels throughout the week.