THE IRISH 4X400M mixed relay team are celebrating a glittering gold medal at the European Athletics Championships in Rome.
Chris O’Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley stormed to an historic victory after a blistering run at the Stadio Olimpico.
The quartet clocked a new national and championship record of 3:09.92 to secure a first European Championship gold medal since Sonia O’Sullivan in 1992.
They reflected on the monumental achievement with RTÉ’s David Gillick afterwards.
“It’s unbelievable. Everything we dream of,” O’Donnell, who ran the opening leg, began.
“When I started going into the blocks, I really felt like I was doing it for the whole country. I wasn’t nervous, I was really excited because I’ve seen these guys next to me and the support we have in the stadium, it’s an unbelievable day. We can’t get over it.”
“It means so much,” Adeleke picked up after her sensational second leg.
“We knew what we could do as a team, we’re really strong, we’ve proven ourselves so many times. I just feel like it was our turn to win a championship medal at senior level. We really deserve it, we work so hard and we really trust each other as a team and that showed on the track today.”
"Everything we dream of"... "It means so much"... "We knew what we could do!"... "I've trained my life for this"
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) June 7, 2024
Chris O'Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr & Sharlene Mawdsley try to sum up their magnificent European gold 🥇☘️ #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/la703yHGSD
Adeleke powered Ireland into the lead and while Barr was overtaken by a Belgian athlete, he rolled back the years to keep his team in contention.
“I have been around a long time, this is my sixth European Championships and medals do not come around that often,” the Waterford star said.
“This is just a phenomenal performance. We knew what we could do coming into this, we knew off the back of the World Relays that we had a really good shot — at not just a medal, but if we really got it right on the day, which we did… we got a championship record, close to a world record and a gold. Not just on the line, we took it by storm.
“This isn’t going to set in for a while but we have to enjoy this because they really do not come around that often. I’m a very, very happy athlete right now.”
And Mawdsley took it home with a scorching anchor leg. She overtook Belgium, turned on the afterburners and soared home.
“Honestly, I wanted to take her on the back straight and I was like, ‘Hold on Sharlene, just use her. She’s going out hard,’” she recalled.
“I was getting a bit impatient, I wanted to take her on the bend and then I was just like, ‘Just go for it.’ I’ve trained my life for this.
“Me and Tom were only saying earlier we felt so good in the warm-up that we were even like, ‘What’s going on?’ Honestly, it’s everything to me, it’s everything to the team. The whole stadium was just amazing, the Irish fans turn up every time. It’s just super.”
Gillick asked about the shock on her face crossing the line, to which Mawdsley responded:
“Honestly, I did not think we would win. Even thinking about that: we won the European Championships! Honestly, it’s so amazing. I can’t wait to step up on the podium tomorrow and hear the national anthem, I think there will be a few tears.”
Mawdsley, Barr and Adeleke are all off tomorrow, but O’Donnell returns to the track bright and early for the Men’s 4x400m.
“Listen, it’s a pleasure, I’m coming on a high. The last thing I’m going to be out there is dreading coming in tomorrow morning!
“It’s unbelievable. We’ve been on a bit of a journey this team. We were performing miracles a few years ago making finals and not once did we just say, ‘Ah we’re happy making a final, we’re happy coming sixth.’ It was always, ‘What’s the next one?’ It’s not even medalling, it’s gold medalling and we’re not far off a World record.”
“That ambition, that journey is not going to change now,” Barr added.
“This is still very early in a big season, we have Olympics yet to come and there’s a huge amount of depth within this team. The four people that are standing here today might not be on this team come Tokyo [sic] so we’re going to do our best to keep that spot….
“Tokyo? I’m in the past! Covid erased two years of my life!”
And off they went into the night.
Glittering gold.
