The Irish Women’s 4x100m Relay Team of Joan Healy (Leevale AC), Adeyemi Talabi (Longford AC), Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn AC), and Sarah Leahy (Killarney Valley AC) finished eighth in their heat on Day Eight at the World Athletics Championships.
The youthful team were unable to qualify for the final and will now turn their focus to hopefully achieving a final place at the European Championships in Munich next month. Ireland finished in 44.48s outside their Season’s Best of 44.25s.
Great Britain won the heat ahead of Jamaica and Germany. Dina Asher-Smith who has won bronze in the 200m and finished fourth in the 100m already in the championships was rested but it is expected that she will come into the team for the final. The second heat was won by the United States in a world leading time of 41.56s ahead of Spain and Nigeria. Italy and Switzerland also qualify for the final.
Sarah Lavin (Emerald AC) is the only Irish athlete in action on the penultimate day of the championships tomorrow. Lavin goes in the Heat 4 of the Women’s 100m Hurdles. The Limerick woman will need to produce a strong performance to advance to the semi-finals. The top three qualify automatically, along with the six fastest non-automatic qualifiers. The ones to watch in Lavin’s heat will be Tobi Amusan (Nigeria), Ditaji Kambundji (Switzerland), and Danielle Williams (Jamaica). The heat goes off at 7:36pm Irish Time.
Lavin is relaxed heading into the championships having ran three Personal Best’s outdoors this season most recently running 12.84s at the Cork City Sports. The 28-year-old is focused on delivering when it matters most.
“Everything is blanked, it doesn’t matter what anyone has done up to this point, you’re at a championship now, you’re here and you know what you’re capable of. You just have to go do it,” she told the Irish Runner last week.
“I know I’m capable, I’m in the best shape of my life but I have to do it. It’s not just a roll of a dice, it’s about being in that moment, doing everything right in that moment and then hopefully I do something special.”
Lavin will be aiming to progress through the first round and make the semi-finals which will take place in the early hours of Monday morning, Irish Time.
The World Athletics Championships are broadcast live on BBC TV and live streamed on the World Athletics YouTube.
