Limerick duo propel women's relay team to thrilling new Irish record in London

TWO Limerick athletes played starring roles as the Irish Women’s 4x100m relay team stormed to an impressive new national record at Saturday afternoon’s Diamond League meeting in London.

Ciara Neville and Sarah Lavin, both of Emerald AC, in Limerick, along with Sarah Leahy (Killarney Valley AC) and Lauren Roy (City of Lisburn AC) combined to clock a time of 43.73 seconds at the prestigious event, bettering the previous record of 43.80 that had stood since 2018.

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The quartet, racing together for just the second time, finished fourth in a thrilling race which was won by Great Britain, (41.69), Jamaica (42.50) and France (43.54). They will continue to set their eyes on next August’s European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.

The Diamond League meeting was held at a sold-out London Stadium. Three other Irish athletes were also in action in London with Sarah Healy (UCD AC) finishing third in the Women’s Mile in 4:16.26.

Rhasidat Adeleke (Tallaght AC) clocked a season’s best of 22.52 to place fourth in the Women’s 200m. In the Men’s 800m, Mark English (Finn Valley AC) clocked 1:44.07, the third fastest time of his career, to finish seventh.