Sarah Lavin powered into the final of the 60-metre hurdles with another impressive performance at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn.
Following up on Thursday evening's heat, where she won her heat with a season’s best time of 7.93secs, the Limerick athlete ran another consistent race out of lane five to take second place and qualify automatically for this evening’s final.
Lavin was steady out of the blocks, and the mid-race section consolidated her position among the contenders before a strong finish saw her edge out Hungary’s Luka Kozak, who took third.
Race winner Pia Skrzyszowska ran a season’s best of 7.84secs and she had a bit to spare over Lavin who recorded a time marginally slowly than the heat in a time of 7.94secs.
Lavin’s time was fourth fastest overall and will take a favourable lane in the final, which is set for 8:43pm (Irish time).
Speaking after the race, Lavin felt that she has more to give in the final, explaining that she made a small mistake early in the semi-final, which thankfully did not cost her a place in the decider.
But overall, she was happy with the performance as she did what she had to do to ensure her place in yet another major final.
"I have to be happy, but I didn't do it the easy way," she said, speaking to RTE Sport. "I did there (a good start) but then between hurdle one and two, I gave it all back, which was disappointing.
"But at the same time, I'd rather it happened there, to make sure it didn't happen later on, and all that was up for grabs was the big Q, so we're in, we have a spot.
"Later on it's going to be a blanket finish, so it's a case of doing everything in the moment until it's time to dip, and you have to get your dip right."
Second spot for @sarahlavin_ in time of 7.94 as she qualifies for the final of the 60m hurdles #IrishAthletics | #Apeldoorn2025 #rtesport pic.twitter.com/JgfWhRas7D
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 7, 2025
Earlier, Mark English and Cian McPhillips overcame bustling and bruising 800m heats to qualify for the semi-finals, while Sharlene Mawdsley withdrew from the 400m ahead of her heat, citing a warm-up injury.
English secured his place by the conventional method of taking a top-two finish in his heat, overcoming a tricky mid-race moment with Sweden's Andreas Kramer when the two athletes were fighting to control the inside track.
The Donegal native won that particular battle, however, it left him with is all to do heading into the bell, struggling for position with just 200m to race.
English used all his experience, and just a touch of good fortune, to eventually gamble on maintaining the shortest route around, and was gifted a gap on the home straight as Belgium’s Tibo de Smet moved across the inside lane.
As a result, English seized his moment to bound through, avoiding the outside battle, to squeeze home in second place behind heat winner Patryk Sieradzki.
"It was quite tough," said English, speaking to RTE Sport after the race. "I thought those seeding were a bit strange to be honest."
"You do expect some rough and tumble indoors," he added, addressing the coming together with Kramer. "In fairness he apologised afterwards.
"It was a race where you really needed to have a plan, as I said beforehand I didn't think the Polish guy would feature and he won the heat.
"So I think it just shows how unpredictable 800m running is at the minute, but it’s great to be a part of it because you can’t really pick first, second and third.
"Coming down the back straight for the last time, I knew the British guy was trying to go on the outside, so I wanted to push him out a bit and make him run wide going into that bend.
"Honestly, I got a little bit of luck when the French guy moved out and I got through, but sometimes you get a bit of luck in these championships."
Mark English surges up the inside to take second spot in his 800m heat and progress to the semi-finals #Apeldoorn2025 #rtesport pic.twitter.com/3HmBsOFwbo
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 7, 2025
McPhillips took the road less travelled into the next round after a reinstatement following his eventful opening heat.
The Longford man was well placed at the bell to attack; however, he was forced outside and became embroiled with a stumbling Bartosz Kitlinski.
The Polish athlete attempted to stay on his feet but eventually hit the deck, taking McPhillips down moments later as the latter was unable to avoid contact.
McPhillips got up to finish fourth, expecting to exit, however, both athletes’ falls were deemed accidental and were handed a pass to run again in the semi-finals.
"It was just a rough race," said McPhillips. I think the Polish guy, Kitlinski, got pushed, he fell, then I fell on top of him, there's nothing I can really do there. It was a bit of carnage. It was to be expected, but that was a bit extreme.
Initial disappointment for Cian McPhillips, who hits the deck in the final lap of his 800m heat - the Longford man was later reinstated.#Apeldoorn2025 #rtesport pic.twitter.com/WPAtUqGg2H
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 7, 2025
There was disappointment, however, for Team Ireland in the women's 400m as the aforementioned Mawdsley opted out of the competition, while neither Lauren Cadden nor Rachel McCann were able to progress.
The Tipperary native ran in the 400m mixed relay on Thursday evening, and while she was present for the warm-up ahead of today's individual event, Mawdsley tweaked her hamstring ahead of her race and subsequently withdrew, which will also cast a doubt over her participation in the women's 4x400m relay.
Both athletes finished fifth in their respective heats, while McCann did manage to run a personal best in Heat 4, finishing in a time of 53.16secs.
In fact, McCann was bumped up to a fourth-place finish following the disqualification of Nikoleta Jichova from Czech Republic.
Cadden was extremely disappointed with her time of 56.57secs, finishing over five seconds behind the heat winner, and the Sligo native said she was embarrassed to run like that on the international stage.
"I don't know what happened," said Cadden. "Obviously, I was nervous, but I was ready to give it my best.
"At worst we said it would be a 53-low, that's the shape I'm in. I was a bit restless last night, but I'm not here to make excuses.
"It was a shocking run, I'm genuinely just embarrassed, I'm embarrassed for anyone who tuned in to watch that race."
