UPDATED FRIDAY 13:00
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.
Evening Session – Friday March 7th
- Sarah Lavin – Women’s 60m Hurdles – Final – 20:43 (21:43) *
Morning Session – Saturday March 8th
- Sarah Healy – Women’s 3000m – Round One – 09:20 (10:20)
- Jodie McCann – Women’s 3000m – Round One – 09:20 (10:20)
- Bori Akinola – Men’s 60m – Round One – 11:00 (12:00)
- Andrew Coscoran – Men’s 3000m – Round One – 11:45 (12:45)
- James Gormley – Men’s 3000m – Round One – 11:45 (12:45)
- Orla Comerford – 60m Para Mixed Classification 12:17 (13:17)
Evening Session – Saturday March 8th
- Bori Akinola – Men’s 60m – Semi-Final – 18:10 (19:10) *
- Mark English – Men’s 800m – Semi-Final – 19:13 (20:13) *
- Cian McPhillips – Men’s 800m – Semi-Final – 19:13 (20:13) *
- Bori Akinola – Men’s 60m – Final – 20:40 (21:40) *
- Sharlene Mawdsley – Women’s 400m – Final – 20:50 (21:50) *
- Lauren Cadden – Women’s 400m – Final – 20:50 (21:50) *
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Sarah Lavin looked ultra-composed in booking her place in this evening’s semi-final of the 60m hurdles as Team Ireland got their 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships up and running in Apeldoorn last night.
The Emerald AC sprinter was businesslike in claiming first place in the fourth of last night’s heats in a time of 7.93SB which ranked fourth fastest of those making it through to the semi-final.
Speaking after the race, Lavin said: “It was a good run. It’s testament to all the people around me as I hadn’t been feeling my best the last few weeks. Championships are where you want to bring out a performance, so to have a season’s best behind me is great and we’ll look forward to tomorrow.”
Lavin returns to the blocks this lunchtime for the semi-final at 12.45pm Irish time, with a potential final awaiting late on Friday evening.
Conor Kelly, Phil Healy, Marcus Lawler, and Sharlene Mawdsley claimed fifth place in the final of the 4x400m mixed relay.
The new look relay team was led away by seventeen-year-old Conor Kelly who ran bravely on his senior debut to hit the break well in contention, before relinquishing positions ahead of the changeover to Phil Healy. Healy used all of her major championship experience to keep Ireland in touch before handing over to Marcus Lawler who looked to utilise his 200m speed to make up the ground on the leaders.
Sharlene Mawdsley once again ran an outstanding final leg, clocking the fastest 400m split by a woman (49.93) to lift Ireland to fifth place, but ultimately there was too much to do over the final 400m to reach the leaders and Ireland had to settle for fifth in 3:17.63.
Speaking after the race, Phil Healy said: “This track is tight, and the home straight is short, so you do have to run wide to pass. It’s the first time out as a mixed relay team at these championships, and while we’re all a little disappointed, we’ll learn from it.”
“I tried to close the gap on the first lap, and it was probably a bit ambitious,” added Mawdsley. “It’s the first time a mixed relay has run at these championships, and we can all be proud of being part of that. We’ve three athletes on the team today who weren’t on the mixed relay team in Rome last year, so it show’s there’s depth and we’ll take a lot from this.”
The mixed relay medals went the way of the Netherlands 3:15.63 CR, Belgium 3:16.19, and Great Britain & NI 3:16.49.
Cathal Doyle’s chances of progressing to tomorrow’s 1500m final suffered a fatal blow with a race-ending-bump in the final 500 meters seeing the Clonliffe athlete do well to remain on his feet as he lost all momentum. Doyle finished out his race in 9th in 3:52.33.
“I was in the mix in fourth or fifth place with 500 meters to go, and as I went to make a move, I got a bit of a shove which saw me lose all momentum,” he said. “I tried staying on my feet and by the time I recovered the field was gone. We’ll review the race and see what comes from it.”
Today’s action
Friday promises to be a busy one for the Irish with Mark English and Cian McPhillips set to lead the way in the heats of the 800m this morning.
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Morning Session – Friday March 7th
Mark English – Men’s 800m – Round One – 10:05 (11:05)
Cian McPhillips – Men’s 800m – Round One – 10:05 (11:05)
Sharlene Mawdsley – Women’s 400m – Round One – 10:55 (11:55)
Lauren Cadden – Women’s 400m – Round One – 10:55 (11:55)
Sarah Lavin – Women’s 60m Hurdles – Semi-Final – 12:45 (13:45) *
Evening Session – Friday March 7th
Sharlene Mawdsley – Women’s 400m – Semi-Final – 18:58 (19:58) *
Lauren Cadden – Women’s 400m – Semi-Final – 18:58 (19:58) *
Sarah Lavin – Women’s 60m Hurdles – Final – 20:43 (21:43) *
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