Disappointment for Kelly and Irish Mixed 4x400m relay team at World Championships

The Irish Mixed 4x400m relay team failed to advance to the final of the event on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan in the early hours of Saturday morning. 

Jack Raftery (Donore Harriers), Sophie Becker (Raheny Shamrock AC), Conor Kelly (Finn Valley AC) and Sharlene Mawdsley (Newport AC) combined to clock a time of 3:13.59 to finish sixth in their heat, 11th overall.

Kelly took the baton from Becker for the third leg in eighth place and although Mawdsley made two places, it wasn't enough as USA won 3:10.19, ahead of Great Britain and South Africa, with Italy fourth and Japan fifth

The quartet were disappointed when speaking afterwards. “As a collective we’re disappointed,” Raftery said. “We set such a high standard for ourselves last year, winning in Rome and running so well in Paris that we expect to be in the final every time we come out to a major championship.”

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“It was very hard, I thought I was going to pass out afterwards,” Mawdsley added. “You can’t have an off day at a World Championships and that’s clearly what we had. It’s our own fault; we made mistakes in the race; it’s just how it goes. We’ll learn so much from this … We’ll be back.”

Kelly was making his World Championship debut and the European U20 400m champion added: “Today was not a good day but that’s how it goes. I’m happy it wasn’t a good day because next time I’ll come back and not much worse can happen!”

️ “It’s a learning experience. You can’t have an off day at a World Championships and that’s clearly what we had.”