THE IRISH MIXED and Women’s 4x400m relay teams are going to the Olympics after sealing their Paris qualification with stunning runs at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas overnight.
Both teams ran national records on day one in Nassau to qualify for Sunday’s finals and stamp their Olympic ticket.
The mixed 4x400m team of Cillin Greene, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley won their heat in a time of 3:12.50.
And just 90 minutes later, Adeleke and Mawdsley returned to the track alongside Sophie Becker and Phil Healy to win their heat in 3:24.38 — shattering their previous national record of 3:26.06 set at 2022 Europeans.
“We knew in our heart of hearts that we had everything we had we needed to qualify and to get through and win this race but sometimes it’s about executing it,” Barr told Athletics Ireland after the mixed 4x400m.
“I feel like we did that exactly what we needed to do to get the job done.”
Adeleke — who ran sub-50 seconds for her leg in both heats, said: “Knowing that we could all qualify for the Olympics gives you enough energy to go out there and do your best.”
Mawdsley added: “We couldn’t have asked for much more. Two wins, two national records…what a dreamy night.
“I can’t put into words how much this means to us all.”
The mixed relay final takes place at 2.40am Monday (Irish time) where Ireland — who were the third-fastest qualifiers overall — will face stiff competition including world champions United States, Olympic champions Poland, the Dominican Republic, Netherlands and Belgium.
The US team of Ryan Willie, Matthew Boling, Kendall Ellis, and Lynna Irby-Jackson ran the fastest qualifying time of the night, 3:11.52, a new championship record, while the Netherlands — Femke Bol, Isayah Boyers, Lieke Klaver, and Isayah Klein Ikkink — ran 3:12.16.
The women’s 4x400m final takes place at 3.10am, with live coverage of all of Sunday’s finals available on the BBC Red Button from 11.55pm Sunday.
In the men’s 4x100m, world sprint champion Noah Lyles and reigning Olympic 100m gold medallist Marcell Jacobs helped the United States and Italy qualify for the Olympics.
Lyles anchored the US quartet also including Courtney Lindsey, Kenneth Bednarek and Kyree King to victory in 37.49 seconds.
Jacobs ran the second leg for the Italians as the defending world relay and Olympic champions coming in just 0.65sec behind the Americans.
Also qualifying for Paris and a place in Sunday’s final were Olympic 200m champion Andre de Grasse’s Canada, Japan, Italy, China, France, Britain and Jamaica.
In the women’s 4x100m, Olympic 200m bronze medallist Gabby Thomas led the US women’s quartet to a solid victory in 42.21sec in their heat.
But Jamaica, without world and Olympic gold medallists Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, Shericka Jackson and Elaine Thompson-Herah, had a disaster, coming in only fifth in their heat won by Poland.
Also booking their spots in Paris were Britain, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Canada and France.
Teams in Sunday’s finals will also be vying for prize money, with $40,000 (€37,000) to be awarded to the winners.
– Additional reporting © AFP 2024
Written by Niall Kelly and posted on the42.ie
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