Silver for Women’s relay as Ireland round out record-breaking championships

Ireland’s 4x400m relay team of Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy and Sharlene Mawdsley secured a silver medal last night at the European Championships in Rome with a new national record time of 3:22.71NR.

The performance sealed an historic championships for the Irish, marking the best ever medal haul (4) from an Irish team at a Europeans.

Last night’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.

With the pressure of a country watching in exception, 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 for the Irish.

The Clonliffe athlete went with the leading pack until 8000m before 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.