Team Ireland produce polished performance to seal mixed relay final berth in Guangzhou

The Irish mixed 4x400m team of Conor Kelly, Rhasidat Adeleke, Cillín Greene and Sharlene Mawdsley secured World Championship qualification and a place in the final at the World Relays with a polished performance to finish second in the first round in Guangzhou, China today.
Another superb last leg from Mawdsley carried them into the automatic qualification spots for the final, and with that ensuring their place in Tokyo, as they hit the line second in 3:12.56, with USA taking a comfortable victory in 3:11.37 and Poland third with 3:12.70.
'I'm so happy with that,' said Mawdsley, who showed no ill effects from the hamstring injury she sustained at the European Indoors in March. 'I was actually quite happy I got the baton in third, I had something to work towards. Top two was auto Q and I ticked the box and I was put in such a great position. I was delighted to overtake on the bend and hold on to second.'
Adeleke got off to a cautious start on the second leg before shifting through the gears over the latter half to haul the team up to second at halfway.
'I was making sure I put the team in the best position,' she said. 'It's definitely still early in the season for me, but I'm really excited to be here and we have our qualification for Tokyo –that's what we came here for. I'm really proud of the team.'
She said that it's 'always an honour to represent team Ireland and putting on that vest just has so much to it,' adding: 'I hope we can come back here tomorrow and do the same thing.'
Kelly led the team off with a solid opening leg, the 17-year-old undaunted on the senior global stage despite his youth.
'It was a strong heat, having USA and Poland in the heat is not easy, so to go in and take it out is good,' he said.
Greene, an experienced member of the mixed relay team who lined up at the Tokyo Olympics four years ago, said: 'I'm happy, it was my first race in a while, since indoors. We had a good holding camp in Hong Kong and it's nice to get the qualification. Everybody went out and did their job – we couldn't ask any more for the team.'

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