Ireland’s 4x400m relay team of Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy and Sharlene Mawdsley have secured a silver medal at the European Championships in Rome with a new national record time of 3:22.71NR.
The performance sealed a historic championship for the Irish, marking the best-ever medal haul (4) from an Irish team at a Europeans.
Tonight’s silver added to the gold medals of Ciara Mageaan (1500m) and the mixed relay team (4x400m), alongside Rhadisat Adeleke’s silver in the 400m.
Ireland placed 10th overall on the Medals Table from the Championship, ahead of Sweden, Germany, Greece, and Austria, the country often held up as the benchmark we should be aiming to overtake as a country of similar population.
With the pressure of a country watching in expectation, the women’s relay team ran a superb race to claim the silver, smashing the old 4x400m record by a staggering 1.7 seconds.
Becker was fast out of the blocks and recorded a spit of 52.00, with Lieke Klaver (NED) ensuring the Netherlands led at the first changeover.
Adeleke (49.36) received the baton for Ireland’s second leg and ran a storming 400 before handing over to Healy (51.51) with a slender lead for the penultimate leg.
A smooth changeover from Healy to Mawdsley (49.84) saw Ireland chasing down the Netherlands who were anchored by world indoor 400m record holder Femke Bol.
Mawdsley ran yet another superb final leg, briefly looking as though she may challenge for gold coming into the final 50 meters, ultimately settling for a superb silver medal for the Irish.
Ireland also had five athletes take to the men’s 10,000m, with Efrem Gidey leading the way. The Clonliffe athlete went with the leading pack until 8000m when an injection of pace saw Gidey slip back through the field.
Gidey would stick to his task bravely to cross the line in 12th in 28:16.94. Brian Fay was 20th, Barry Keane finished 21st, Peter Lynch was 22nd, and Cormac Dalton recorded a 24th-place finish.
Reigning Olympic and European champion Jakob Ingebrigsten dictated the men’s 1500m, winning in a championship record of 3:31.95 with Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran crossing in 13th in 3:34.76.
The Irish team will arrive back in Dublin on several flights over the next 24 hours. The first of those flights is due to arrive at Dublin Airport at 9:45 a.m. tomorrow (Sharlene Mawdsley).
A second flight is due at 5.40 pm, which includes Sophie Becker.
Phil Healy will be returning on the late flight, which is due to arrive at Dublin airport in the early hours of Friday morning.
Ciara Mageean, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr, and Chris O’Donnell have/are all flying on to destinations outside of Ireland and will not be returning to Dublin Airport.
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