Mawdsley, O'Connor advance in European Indoor Championships

Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) advanced to the semi-final of the 400m at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul this morning.

Mawdsley placed sixth overall in the heats, clocking a time of 52.59 to come home just behind Austrian Gogl-Walli. The Tipperary athlete boasts a personal best of 51.91 and never looked like missing out on one of the two automatic qualifying places.

Mawdsley will take on Gogl-Walli once again in this evening’s semi-final (5.03pm Irish time) as she looks to claim one of the top three qualifying places for Saturday’s final, a task made all the more difficult by the presence of Femke Bol of the Netherlands.

National 400m champion Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock) finished third in her heat (53.43) which was not enough to see her progress.

Speaking after the race she said: “It’s always an honour to wear the green singlet and to represent the country, but it’s nice to be happier with your performance. Hopefully I’ll be back for the relay on Sunday.”

Cliodhna Manning (Kilkenny City Harriers) was last of the Irish 400m trio to take to the track this morning. The Kilkenny athlete ran a superb race in the final heat, clocking a personal best of 54.21, but unfortunately the 5^th place finish was not enough to see her advance.

Commonwealth Games Heptathlon medallist Kate O'Connor (Dundalk St Gerards) remains in contention for a top five finish in the pentathlon. O’Connor started her competition with a 8.64 in the 60m hurdles before following up with a 1.74m clearance in the high jump. O’Connor completed her morning session on a high with a personal best of 14.37m in the shot put to leave her sitting in eighth place ahead of her final two events this afternoon.

The Dundalk athlete will return to the arena for the long jump (4.10pm) and final 800m event (6.05pm).

Joan Healy (Leevale AC) rounded out Irish involvement in this morning’s session, clocking a 7.41 in the heats of the 60m. The 5^th place finish was just one place off advancing to the afternoon’s semi-final as an automatic qualifier.

Full results HERE.

Afternoon Session

Today’s afternoon session will be live on RTE 2 and will include the 400m semi-finals.

All eyes will then turn to the final 800m of the pentathlon as Kate O’Connor rounds out her competition.

Irish Female Athlete Schedule: Friday March 3rd (times listed in Irish time):