Sharlene Mawdsley
Sharlene Mawdsley produced a brilliant performance to come from behind and claim victory over 400m at the Gala dei Castelli meeting in Bellinzona, Switzerland on Monday evening, the Newport sprinter clocking 51.35 to defeat Austria’s Susanne Gogl-Walli (51.39) and Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands (51.42).
Mawdsley ran a measured opening 300m and turned for home in third, with Klaver out front, but the Irishwoman proved much the strongest in the final 100m, holding her form brilliantly to claim victory at the Continental Tour Silver meeting.
The win brought a fitting end to a breakthrough season for Mawdsley, who kept her cool in the crucial final strides to edge Gogl-Walli, who she’d clashed with in the world indoor 400m semi-final in Glasgow in March. In that race, Mawdsley cut in a fraction too soon as she overtook Gogl-Walli entering the final bend, which led to her being controversially disqualified and missing out on a place in her first global final as an individual.
But the 26-year-old Tipperary sprinter bounced back better than ever outdoors, anchoring Ireland to mixed 4x400m bronze at the World Relays in the Bahamas in May, mixed 4x400m gold in the European final in Rome in June and to fourth place in the women’s 4x400m final at the Olympics. As an individual, she also reached the European final and Olympic semi-final, lowering her 400m PB to 50.71 in Paris to also tick off the qualification standard for next year’s World Championships in Tokyo.
Elsewhere in Bellinzona, there was a breakthrough run by Luke McCann over 800m, the Dubliner finishing like a train in the men’s 800m to take second in 1:45.33, a personal best by 0.2 by the Paris Olympian. It moved him fourth on the Irish all-time list and saw him defeat Irish record holder Mark English, the Donegal man fading to third in the final strides to clock 1:45.56. The race was won by France’s Gabriel Tual in 1:43.98.
Sarah Lavin had a race to forget in the women’s 100m hurdles, the two-time Olympian clocking 13.06 in an event won by former Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn in 12.52. In a year of remarkable consistency by the 30-year-old Limerick hurdler, it was just the second time in 19 races that she hasn’t broken 13 seconds.
Meanwhile at the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York on Sunday, Sarah Healy finished sixth in the women’s race, clocking 4:21, with USA’s Karissa Schweizer taking victory in 4:14.8. Fellow Dubliner Cathal Doyle finished eighth in the men’s race in 3:53, which was won easily by Britain’s Josh Kerr in a course record of 3:44.3.