There was more success for Ireland athletics team at the World Relays in the Bahamas as the mixed 4X400m team won a bronze medal off the back of more incredible performances from both Sharlene Mawdsley and Rhasidat Adeleke.
Adeleke ran a stupidly fast split of 48.45 seconds for her leg, over a second faster than World Indoor Champion Femke Bol. Mawdsley ran the final leg and was side by side with Bol to the line as the team of Adeleke, Mawdsley, Cillín Greene and Tom Barr set another national record of 3:11.53.
Nights like these 🤩🇮🇪
A World Relay bronze for Ireland in Nassau 🙌💚#WorldRelays pic.twitter.com/0bb4elWaUK
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) May 6, 2024
Speaking to Athletics Ireland after receiving their medals, Tom Barr also spoke about the progress the Irish relay teams have made over the past decade and how this team is greater than the sum of their parts.
I was only saying it last night, I was here 9 years ago in 2015 and we were sixth in the men's team and the women's team were fifth and I was quoted as having said "you know just to be here is an absolute privilege" and it was as good as that.
Look at what we've build on in 9 years. I'm very very proud of this team, what we've built in the last couple years and I'm very proud to say that we put our absolute everything we had today.
And you know we always do punch above our weight, that's our magic that we come together as a team, we all collaborate and we are able to bring it together as a team and it's not just the sum of what we can individually do.
🗣️ “It’s absolutely unbelievable, it’s the stuff of dreams…I don’t think we expected it at all.”
Reaction from our BRONZE MEDALISTS after a magical performance in the Mixed 4x400m at the World Athletics Relays 🤩#IrishAthletics #WorldRelays pic.twitter.com/buODRimebp
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) May 6, 2024
This capped off a very impressive weekend for the relay teams in Nassau. The women's 4X400m team also qualified for the Olympics with Adeleke and Mawdsley pulling double duty alongside Sophie Becker and Phil Healy.
The Paris Olympics are only a couple of months away and it's looking like the Ireland athletics team are hitting form at the right time, prospects of medals on the track for Ireland haven't been this great in a long time so hopefully we can see success later this summer.
READ ALSO: Rhasidat Adeleke Records Insane 100m Time To Beat Strong Field In USA
