Sharlene Mawdsley has secured the automatic Olympic standard in the 400m, running 50.72 at the Memoriał Janusza Kusocińskiego meeting in Chorzow, Poland.
Mawdsley won her heat at the Polish meet, dipping well under the Olympic standard of 50.95 and taking 0.37 off her previous best from September last year. The run lifts her up to second on the all-time Irish list behind Rhasidat Adeleke's time of 50.33.
The Newport sprinter has positioned herself as a world class 400m relay runner but had yet to run the automatic qualifying time for Paris. She now joins Adeleke as the second Irish woman to achieve the standard in the 400m for the Olympic Games.
Mawdsley, who missed out on the Irish relay team in Tokyo after being displaced at the eleventh hour, had been tipped as a likely qualifier for Paris 2024 after running 50 second relay splits in both the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow earlier this year and in the World Relays at the start of May.
In the latter, she vied with 400m hurdle world record holder Femke Bol in the final 50m of the mixed 4x400m relay to secure a historic bronze for Ireland.
It was a tumultuous indoor championships for Mawdsley, who had initially qualified for the individual 400m final before being controversially disqualified for obstructing Austria's Susanne Gogl-Walli in her semi-final.
Prospects for the Irish relays are looking strong with Wexford's Sophie Becker landing herself a European Qualifying mark and personal best in Belfast last week.
With Adeleke unsure if she will contest the relay in Paris the current form of her teammates boosts Ireland's hopes of a relay medal.
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