Mawdsley produced another foot-perfect anchor leg to carry them to victory in 3:24.69 ahead of Australia (3:27.31) and Switzerland (3:32.37), leaving them with an overall 12th-place finish.
“The girls put me in a great position and I love to chase,” said Mawdsley. “It was a smart run and I’m really happy to be getting that experience early in the season as what happened in Paris, I really don’t want that to happen again – so it’s all about learning and looking forward to the rest of the summer.”
Without Adeleke and Mawdsley in the first round yesterday – while the duo focused on the mixed 4x400m – the women’s team came up just shy of a place in the final, finishing third in the first round. That meant they had to secure a top-three finish in today’s second round to book their place in Tokyo, which looked a facile task given the calibre in their ranks.
Becker produced another superb opening leg, splitting 51.41 out of the blocks to hand over to Adeleke close to the front. The Dubliner coasted through the opening half of her leg before turning on the jets and handing over to McCann in front after a 50.38-second leg. McCann ran well through the opening 300m then tied up slightly in the home straight, splitting 52.89, leaving Mawdsley to stalk Australia’s Alanah Yukich on the anchor leg, with the Tipperary native launching her attack on the crown of the final bend and coming home almost three seconds clear.
“I think we have solidified ourselves as one of the best relays in the world and we’re just continuing that on,” said Adeleke. “I’m really excited to see what we can do at the World Championships now that we’re qualified. We’re building, I’m building every race and getting back into shape and I’m really excited to see what this season holds for all of us – individually and as a team.”
Following the mixed 4x400m qualification on Saturday, it means Ireland will be represented in two relays at the World Championships in Tokyo.
The men’s 4x400m team of Conor Kelly, Cillín Greene, Chris O’Donnell and Jack Raftery came up short of reaching Tokyo after finishing seventh in the second qualification round in 3:04.42.
“We did find it tough out there, we’d have liked to do better but it’s a very, very strong standard – there’s zero weak teams out there,” said O’Donnell. “To put the progress into perspective, we didn’t qualify last year, we haven’t been here in 10 years. This was the first step – getting here – and we weren’t good enough, there’s no excuses, but next year and the year after, ultimately, we want this team to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games. We’re better than we were last year and we’ll be better again next year.”
Ireland will also later be in action in the mixed 4x400m final in Guangzhou at 2.03pm Irish time, but the team will be below strength in the absence of Adeleke and Mawdsley.
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