Limerick's Sarah Lavin takes home Ireland only win in European Championships

Team Ireland have finished fifth in Division Two of the European Athletics Team Championships in Maribor, Slovenia, narrowly missing out on promotion to the top tier of the continental competition.

Sarah Lavin took Ireland’s only win of the weekend, earning maximum points for her country in the Women’s 100m Hurdles. The Limerick sprinter clocked a time of 12.82 seconds in still conditions to claim victory.

There were also strong performances from Nicola Tuthill (UCD AC), Cian McPhillips (UCD AC) and the mixed 4x400m relay team kept the 43-strong team in contention right up to the last few events.

“To get maximum points for the team was the priority, I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy ask," Lavin said. 

I think I was ranked around third on season’s best. Any opportunity you can take to put on your country’s singlet you want to represent it to the maximum of your capabilities."

“I got out well. We’ve been doing a lot of work on my first hurdle and my take-off points, hopefully that’s done now so I can stop talking about that,” she added.

The Mixed 4x400m Relay team of Jack Raftery (Donore Harriers), Cliodhna Manning (Kilkenny City Harriers), Callum Baird (Ballymena and Antrim AC) and Sharlene Mawdsley combined to clock a time of 3:14.81, finishing second in their heat and fourth overall.

Mawdsley produced her trademark anchor leg chasing down Olympic finalist Henriette Jæger of Norway.

“The lactic I have in my legs right now is something I’ve never experienced before,” the Tipperary sprinter said.

“I’m proud of that, it was a good weekend for me. Please God in two years’ time we’ll be going up to the first division," she added.