SO CLOSE: Sharlene Mawdsley comes agonisingly close to a medal with fourth place finish in relay

Sharlene Mawdsley fell agonisingly short of an Olympic medal after the Newport AC athlete and her teammates finished in fourth place in the women's 4x400m relay final at the Paris Olympics on Saturday night.

The Irish team came so close as Mawdsley's anchor leg came up just short on the line with the Great Britain and Netherlands team pipping her at the line for second and third, as the US team stormed to the gold medal.

In what was a magnificent run overall,  the quartet of Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy, Sophie Becker, and Mawdsley, clocked an astonishing national record of 3:19.90, obliterating the previous national record of 3:22.71.

Amid their obvious frustration at fourth place, it continues a remarkable run of huge performances on the big stage by the Irish women’s 4x400m, who made the world final in Budapest last year and the world indoor final in Glasgow this year before winning silver behind the Dutch at the Europeans in Rome.