{"id":64749,"date":"2025-09-15T04:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T04:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/64749\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T04:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T04:12:15","slug":"sharlene-mawdsley-and-sarah-healy-progress-at-world-athletics-championships-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/64749\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharlene Mawdsley and Sarah Healy progress at World Athletics Championships \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The heat and humidity inside the National Stadium reached the red warning zone at the start of Sunday\u2019s evening session at the World Championships<\/a>. Before the end, the stress levels of Sharlene Mawdsley<\/a> and Sarah Healy<\/a> went into the red zone too.<\/p>\n

First Mawdsley, who went into her 400 metres heat knowing qualification might require something special. Drawn in lane nine, in the third of six heats, only the top three were sure of progressing \u2013 plus the six fastest non-qualifiers.<\/p>\n

Mawdsley finished fourth, clocking 51.04 seconds, narrowly edged out for third spot.<\/p>\n

That meant sitting through the next three heats before realising she was safe, the Tipperary athlete ending up fifth of the six fastest non-qualifiers. Cue mild relief and massive elation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely thrilled, so proud of myself,\u201d she said.\u201d It was a tough wait, but just made it all worthwhile. I wanted to commit to it, for myself, and if I blow up in the last 50m, at least I\u2019d still committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mawdsley had also given her all in Saturday\u2019s mixed relay qualification, making up two places on the anchor leg, though still Ireland fell short. Given the outside lane, she\u2019d little choice but to tear off from the gun, and she did exactly that, while critically holding her form down the homestretch.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Outstanding Fionnuala McCormack finishes ninth in World Championships marathon in TokyoOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Her heat was won by Sydney McLoughlin-Levrone in 49.41, the Olympic champion and world record holder in the 400m hurdles from the US, who is looking to add the 400m-flat title in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Then came Healy, who\u2019d made no secret of her resolve to make the 1,500m final. The European Indoor champion did everything right up until just before the ball, the race already a stormy affair, as Germany\u2019s Nele Webel and Salome Afonso from Portugal were clipped at the back after 150m, briefly falling.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland'sIreland’s Sarah Healy stumbles amidst the traffic during her 1,500m semi-final in Tokyo. Italy\u2019s Marta Zenoni was later disqualified. Photograph: Hannah Peters\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Only the top six from the two semi-finals progressed, Healy sitting in sixth approaching the bell, before being clipped slightly herself. She began to lose ground down the backstretch, as Kenya\u2019s Kelly Chepchirchir pressed things hard at the front, and in the desperate dash for the finish she could only manage seventh, in 4:08.78, Italy\u2019s Marta Zenoni from just ahead of her.<\/p>\n

Cue heartbreak and devastation, though only temporarily, as 20 minutes later, the result was amended with Zenoni disqualified for pushing, promoting Healy into a qualifying spot. There was a further appeal from the Italian team, but by midnight Tokyo time that was rejected, so Healy was also safe.<\/p>\n

There would have been palpable disappointment had Healy missed out, the lucky break taking the pressure off for Tuesday\u2019s final (2.05pm Irish time), and she has nothing to lose this time. Sophie O\u2019Sullivan<\/a> was however unable to repeat the heroics of her qualifying heat, bringing up the rear of her 1,500m semi-final, 12th in 4:18.18, that race won by Faith Kipyegon from Kenya, the defending champion, in 4:00.34.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s Andrew Coscoran in action during the 1,500m heats in Tokyo. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Sopher Becker also exited the 400m, sixth in her heat. Drawn in lane two, like Mawdsley she went out aggressively in the first half of the race, but faded from fifth to sixth down the home straight, clocking 52.19.<\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s morning session, Andrew Coscoran<\/a> provided another fillip for Irish middle distance running by cruising through his 1,500m heat. Coscoran had Jakob Ingebrigtsen for company, among others, the Norwegian star racing for the first time in six months. But while Ingebrigtsen was unable to get himself into contention, Coscoran finished safely in sixth place, in a time of 3:37.32 \u2013 that heat won by Britain\u2019s 2022 World Champion Jake Wightman.<\/p>\n

Fellow Dubliner Cathal Doyle lined up in an equally stacked heat, only he found the pace a little too hot to handle and he ended up 12th. Coscoran\u2019s semi-final is set for Monday, 1.30pm Irish time.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s Nicola Tuthill has reached the final of the women’s hammer. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

In the field, Nicola Tuthill<\/a> made her World Championship debut, at age 21, in the hammer qualification. The Cork thrower improved in each of her three rounds, from her first round effort of 65.43m, to a last round to throw 70.70m. That saw her make it to Monday\u2019s final as the 12th and final qualifier, delighting herself in the process.<\/p>\n

Sarah Lavin will also be back inside the National Stadium on Monday, after coming through her heat of the 100m hurdles. Again there with no room for error, as only the top three across the six heats progressed, along with six fastest non-qualifiers. Despite a shaky start, Lavin kept her cool over the second half of the race and took third spot in 12.94 seconds, ensuring her progression.<\/p>\n

Monday schedule<\/p>\n

1pm: <\/b>Nicola Tuthill \u2013 Women\u2019s hammer final<\/p>\n

1.05pm:<\/b> Sarah Lavin \u2013 Women\u2019s 100m hurdles semi-finals<\/p>\n

1:30pm:<\/b> Andrew Coscoran \u2013 Men\u2019s 1500m semi-finals<\/p>\n

2.20pm: <\/b>*Sarah Lavin \u2013 Women\u2019s 100m hurdles final<\/p>\n

*Pending qualification<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The heat and humidity inside the National Stadium reached the red warning zone at the start of Sunday\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[45670,18,19,17,22333,10886,10883,10887,132,9715],"class_list":{"0":"post-64749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-andrew-coscoran","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-nicola-tuthill","13":"tag-sarah-healy","14":"tag-sharlene-mawdsley","15":"tag-sophie-o-sullivan","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-world-athletics-championships"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}