A big Irish contingent will be in action today at the Palio Città della Quercia in Rovereto, with Sharlene Mawdsley’s return from injury leading the interest at the Continental Tour Silver meeting. Six Irish athletes feature on the latest start lists, with plenty to follow across the track and field programme.
Mawdsley returns to the women’s 400m after a hamstring tear suffered in the national 200m final in July forced her to miss the European Championships in Birmingham. The Newport AC athlete had been enjoying the finest individual season of her career, recording four personal bests and reaching 50.06 on her Diamond League debut in Paris. As we reported yesterday, today offers a welcome opportunity to get back racing and bring a more positive finish to a summer interrupted just as she was approaching the 50 second barrier.
Sophie O’Sullivan moves back up to the women’s 1500m following a superb run of form over 800m. The Ballymore Cobh athlete clocked 1:58.60 in Brescia to move second on the Irish all time list, just 0.09 seconds outside Ciara Mageean’s national record. She followed that with 1:59.23 in Trier, making it three consecutive races below two minutes. That recent speed should give her plenty of encouragement as she returns to the longer distance.
Joining O’Sullivan in the 1500m is Sarah Healy. The UCD athlete has clocked 3:57.42 this season, giving her the quickest listed season’s best in today’s race. With Italy’s Nadia Battocletti among the opposition, there should be no shortage of competition for the two Irish women as they look to finish strongly.
