WATCH: Irish Mixed 4x400m relay team react to defeat at World Athletics Championships
Sharlene Mawdsley said: '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.'
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.
The quartet were disappointed when speaking afterwards: “As a collective we’re disappointed,” Jack 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.”
WATCH THE VIDEO OF THEIR REACTION BELOW
“It was very hard, I thought I was going to pass out afterwards,” Sharlene Mawdsley said. “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.”
18-year-old Conor 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!”