Sarah Lavin was the shining light on an otherwise dim day for Irish success at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, the Limerick athlete twice improving her own lifetime best to secure one of the automatic final berths in the 60 metres hurdles.
It meant Lavin returned to the Stark Arena twice on Saturday evening, lining up after first clocking 8.03 seconds to qualify, then smashing the eight second barrier when clocking 7.97 in her semi-final, improving her previous best of 8.06.
In the final, she then clocked 8.09 to finish seventh best in the world. Victory on the night went to Cyréna Samba-Mayela of France in 7.78.
“What a moment, just for everyone in my life,” said Lavin. “To be a world indoor finalist, no one can ever take that away from you. To break eight seconds, in this moment, on this stage, it’s a dream come true.
“To run a PB on the biggest stage, it’s a bit of an ask to do. It’s a proud day for me, my coach, family, and friends – everyone who’s helped me get here.”
Luke McCann and Andrew Coscoran both had the goal of making the 1,500m final, only it wasn’t to be, McCann exciting in the first of the four heats after trailing off on the last two laps, the 24-year-old clocking 3:44.03 to finish seventh.
With Jakob Ingebrigtsen for company, the Norwegian world record holder finishing safe in second, McCann needed to produce something big, and there was little disguising his disappointment.
Likewise with Coscoran, who was looking to build on his Olympic semi-final appearance last summer. Despite racing close to the front early on, he also lost ground on the last two laps and finished fifth in his heat in 3:40.53. Only the top two in each heat were automatic, both their times well short of making it as one of the four fastest non-qualifiers, Coscoran’s Belgrade preparations not helped by a recent bout of Covid.
Síofra Cléirigh-Buttner also came to the championships in mixed form, and bowed out of the 800 metres when clocking 2:06.99 to finish fifth in her heat.
At age 19, Israel Olatunde was making his first appearance in the world stage in the 60m, his time of 6.66 leaving him in finish fourth, also short of what was required to advance.
The morning session did bring considerable joy for Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who won the women’s high jump with a leap of 2.02m to take gold as the war rages on in her home nation. Mahuchikh only made it to Belgrade thanks to the collaboration between World Athletics and the Ukrainian, Romanian and Serbian federations saw her make a three-day, 2,000km journey last week.
