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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Vincent Whelan

Ireland's 4x400m relay smash national record while Louise Shanahan also storms into 800m final

Both Louise Shanahan and the women's 4x400 relay team of Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Rhasidat Adeleke and Sharlene Mawdsley delivered stunning performances for Team Ireland on Friday morning at the European Championships.

Shanahan qualified for the 800m final after putting on a superb display to come home in third in a time of 2:01.15 - thereby sealing automatic progression into Saturday's final.

The PhD student managed the race very well as she kept a clear path in front the whole time.

READ MORE: Germany's Konstanze Klosterhalfen thanks Sonia O'Sullivan after gold medal win at European Athletics Championships

And even when the tempo quickened in the second half she produced the necessary burst to finish ahead of Germany’s Majtie Kolberg and Olympic silver medalist Ekaterina Guliyev of Turkey.

Keely Hodgkinson took the victory with a well-timed dash towards the finish.

Meanwhile the women's relay team smashed the national record to also book their spot in a decider as they made it over the line in 3:26.06.

Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Rhasidat Adeleke and Sharlene Mawdsley celebrate (©INPHO/Morgan Treacy)

While a brilliant achievement, it doesn't come as any great surprise as between them, they boast four of the six fastest times ever recorded by Irish women over that distance.

19-year-old phenom Adeleke actually ran the fastest split of any runner over the race's duration as she got round in 49.49 on the third leg.

That put the Irish team in the lead but Mawdsley faded towards the line having stoutly held off the Dutch challenge for much of the way.

Despite being pipped into second place, it was good enough to secure their spot in another Saturday final with that one set to take place at 8.45 pm Irish time.

Colin Doyle, Mark Smyth and Joseph Ojewumi were left disappointed though (©INPHO/Morgan Treacy)

While that was all positive, there was bitter disappointment for our men's 4x100 relay.

Things looked to be going well after Israel Olatunde got the team off to a strong start before handing over to Mark Smyth.

But Smyth's changeover to Colin Doyle was mistimed resulting in the baton being dropped and our hopes dashed.

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