IRISH RELAY TEAM QUALIFY FOR WORLD RELAY FINAL

Team Ireland have exploded from the blocks at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon22 this evening, with the Irish mixed 4 x400m team of Christopher O’Donnell, Sophie Becker, Jack Raftery, and Rhasidat Adeleke securing a place in tomorrow morning’s final (Saturday 3.50am).

The Irish quartet produced a sublime performance to cross in second place in heat 2 to secure an automatic qualifying spot in a time of 3:13.88. O’Donnell put the team in prime position from the gun, storming up the home straight to handover to Becker who stayed on powerfully over the final 50 meters to keep Ireland right in contention for one of the automatic qualifying places.

Raftery took over for leg 3 and ran the race of his life to post a 45.37 which was the fastest time of all the ‘leg 3’ athletes. Raftery handed over to Adeleke who looked super smooth as she chased down the Jamaican athletes to claim a brilliant second place finish for team Ireland.

Individual leg times:

• Leg1: O'Donnell 46.33
• Leg2: Becker 52.38
• Leg3: Raftery 45.37 (Fastest 3rd leg)
• Leg4: Adeleke 49.80

Next up for team Ireland will be Olympian David Kenny who goes in the 20k Walk at 11.10pm (Irish time) this evening. The Kerry athlete looks sure to be in the mix if continuing the form that saw him claim a PB of 1.19.44 back in April. Kenny holds the second fastest time ever posted by an Irish athlete, second only to Robert Heffernan’s 1:19:22.

Kenny’s Tokyo teammate and recent U23 record breaker, Sarah Healy, will go in the heats of a red-hot looking women’s 1500m in the earlier hours of Saturday morning, while Eric Favors (Group A) and John Kelly (Group B) will also take to qualifying in the men’s shot put.

Further daily updates and previews will follow over the coming days.

Irish in action (Irish time):

Day 1

• 11.10pm David Kenny 20k Walk
• 02.10am Sarah Healy 1500m Heats
• 02.55am Eric Favors & John Kelly Shot Put Qualifying
• 03.50am Mixed4x400m Final

Day 2:

• 9.20pm Thomas Barr 400mH Heats
• 2.30am Andrew Coscoran 1500m Heats

Day 3:

• 7.05pm Christopher O'Donnell 400m Heats
• 8.00pm Sophie Becker & Rhasidat Adeleke 400m Heats

Day 6:

• 1.02am Mark English 800m Heats

Day 7:

• 1.10am Louise Shanahan 800m Heats

Day 8:

• 1.40am Women 4x100m Heats

Day 9:

• 7.20pm Sarah Lavin 100mH Heats

Day 10

• 2.15pm Brendan Boyce 35k Walk

Start lists and timetables are available HERE

ENDS

NOTES

Where to watch

BBC will have extended coverage across all 10 days. Oregon22 will be streamed live in some territories on the World Athletics YouTube and Facebook channels. Action from each session will be shown and competition times are available on the event schedule. The livestream will not be available in all territories. More on how to follow HERE