Ireland Secures Gold in European Athletics Championships

Ireland secured their first European Athletics Championships gold medal since 1998 with a sensational victory in the 4x400m mixed relay in Rome. The Irish team with O’Donnell, Adeleke, Barr and Mawdsley, finished 0.77 seconds ahead of Italy, securing a remarkable victory. Their performance showcased their exceptional teamwork and skill on the track. The favored Netherlands team, led by Femke Bol, took bronze. Bol had too much ground to make up in the final leg, and the Dutch team finished 0.81 seconds behind the Irish team.

The Irish team improved the national record by 1.61 seconds. Ireland set the previous record finishing third behind the USA and the Netherlands at the World Relays. This victory improved the national record by 1.61 seconds. Mawdsley ran her split in 49.40 seconds, 0.13 seconds faster than Adeleke, with O’Donnell clocking 46.09 and Barr delivering a superb leg of 44.90.  After O’Donnell’s steady opening leg, Adeleke put Ireland in serious contention by outpacing Bol’s teammate Lieke Klaver.

Barr kept Ireland’s gold medal hopes alive. Anchor leg runner Mawdsley moved into the lead with just over 100 meters left, finishing in 3 minutes 9.92 seconds. Legendary distance runner Sonia O’Sullivan was the only Irish athlete to have won European gold previously. She achieved the 5,000m and 10,000m double in 1998, after winning the 3,000m title four years earlier. Earlier in the championships, Ciara Mageean comfortably qualified for the women’s 1500m final, finishing third in her heat with a time of 4:06.81.

Mageean finished behind Reekie and Cavalli. She’s a strong contender for gold in Sunday’s final. “I wanted to stay out of trouble,” Mageean said. “I saw when I was walking through that one of the girls fell in the second heat – that’s your biggest risk, that you’ll get caught up in something.” Dubliner Sarah Healy also secured a place in the 1500m final, finishing fourth in her heat with a time of 4:12.30. Letterkenny’s Mark English saw his hopes for a fifth European 800m medal end. He finished fifth in his heat with a time of 1:46.73.

Dubliner Israel Olatunde advanced to the 100m semi-finals, finishing third in his heat with a season’s best of 10.31 seconds. Olatunde’s form dipped since the last European Championships. Friday’s performance should boost his confidence. Elsewhere, Michelle Finn ended her championships with a 14th place finish in her 3,000m steeplechase heat, clocking 9:46.93.