Weekend Round-Up: Mawdsley and Gidey charge up all-time list
It was a busy weekend for Ireland’s High-Performance athletes competing across the globe as the countdown continues to the European Athletics Championships in Rome in less than three weeks and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in August.
On Saturday Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) continued her excellent form with a win over 400m at the Memoriał Janusza Kusocińskiego meeting in Chorzow, Poland.
Mawdsley clocked a new personal best time of 50.72 seconds which sees her move to second on the Irish All-Time List for the event behind Rhasidat Adeleke. The time is also inside the A Standard of 50.95 for the Olympics.
This latest strong performance comes just two weeks after the Tipperary athlete helped to qualify both the Women’s and Mixed 4x400m teams for the Games at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas, where she also was part of the bronze medal winning mixed team.
At the same meet Nick Griggs (Candour Track Club) lowered his 1500m personal best down to 3:35.90 as he finished fifth. The 19-year-old from Tyrone has now automatically qualified for the European Championships.
In the United States, Rhasidat Adeleke (Tallaght AC) was racing over 200m at the Los Angeles Invitational. The young Dubliner produced another fine performance to finish fourth against a world-class field, crossing the line in 22.45 seconds, just over a tenth of a second outside her own Irish record. Adeleke’s next race will be in two weeks’ time in Jamaica.
Closer to home, in London, Efrem Gidey (Clonliffe Harriers AC) came agonisingly close to breaking the national senior 10,000m record at the popular Night of 10,000m PB’s meet. Gidey ran an excellent time of 27:40.00 to miss out on Alistair Cragg’s 2007 record by 0.45 of a second.
On Friday evening at the Meeting Atletismo Jaen Paraiso Interior in Andujar, Spain, Mark English (Finn Valley AC) recorded a season’s best of 1:46.29 to finish fourth. Compatriot Cillian Kirwan (Raheny Shamrock AC) finished sixth in 1:46.93, while in the Men’s 1500m Cathal Doyle (Clonliffe Harriers AC) was second in 3:36.32.