Mawdsley advances to World Indoor 400m Semi-Final
Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) got her World Athletics Indoor Championships off to a flyer this morning, securing her passage to this evening’s 400m semi-final in dramatic fashion at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.
Running in the third of this morning’s 400m heats, Mawdsley crossed the finish-line in joint second place alongside two other athletes who remarkably all set the same time of 52.23 behind race winner Talitha Diggs (USA) who crossed in 52.17.
With no way of splitting the trio, Mawdsley, Amandine Brossier (FRA), and Henriette Jaeger (NOR) were all awarded automatic qualification to this evening’s semi-final set for 8.50pm.
Speaking after the race Mawdsley said: “I’m buzzing, I felt really good out there. The race was a little slow, but I ran well, and the race pretty much played out like I thought it would. I planned on taking the break in fourth which is risky indoors, but it paid off and I finished strong, so I’m really excited for the semi-final”.
Mawdsley continued: “I have the experience from Budapest in racing multiple times at a championships so I’m going into this evening relatively relaxed having got the job done this morning. Anything can happen in a semi-final, I’m feeling really good right now so hopefully I can break my PB (51.91) in the next round”.
Mawdsley’s qualifying time of 52.23 ranked as the joint ninth fastest time in this morning’s heats, with the leading time of 51.31 set by Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands who will join Mawdsley in the first of this evening’s semi-finals (8.50pm).
21-year-old Israel Olatunde (Tallaght AC) finished 4th in his 60m heat, and although running his fastest race of the season so far with a 6.70 season’s best, it was not enough to see the Irish champion progress to this evening’s semi-final.
Speaking after the race, he said: “The margins are so fine in the 60 meters, so not my day today but I’ll go away and come back stronger. This is a World Championships and I know I belong here. I want more, but days like this motivate me even more and I’m looking forward to my outdoor season”.
Irish attention will now turn to Sarah Healy in this evening’s 1500m heats at 7.32pm.
Healy is ranked 5th on her season’s best in the 1500m, and should she safely negotiate today’s tricky heats, the UCD athlete can expect to face a tactically run race in the final on Sunday which looks set to be dominated by Ethiopia who boast the top three ranked athletes in the field.
Team Ireland Schedule:
Friday March 1st
- 19.32pm Women’s 1500m Heats – Sarah Healy
- 20.50pm Women’s 400m Semi-Final – Sharlene Mawdsley
Saturday March 2nd
- 20.15pm Women’s 3,000m Final – Roisin Flanagan
- 21.00pm Women’s 400m Final
Sunday March 3rd
- 10.25am Women’s 60m Hurdles Heats – Sarah Lavin
- 11.38am Women’s 4x400m Relay Heats
- 19.40pm Women’s 60m Hurdles Semi-Final
- 20.30pm Women’s 4x400m Final
- 21.00pm Women’s 60m Hurdles Final
- 21.45pm Women’s 1500m Final