'Buzzing' Sharlene Mawdsley advances to 400m semis after photo finish

Sharlene Mawdsley has advanced to tonight's 400m semi-finals at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

The Newport AC runner was the first Irish athlete in action at the championships this morning and progressed to the semi-finals (8.50pm) after a dramatic heat that saw three athletes post the same time in finishing behind winner Talitha Diggs of the United States.

Mawdsley, along with Norway’s Henriette Jager and French woman Amandine Brossier crossed the line in a time of 52.23.

With the top two from each heat automatically qualifying, it meant that initially the Tipperary woman was in the fastest qualifiers slot, but race officials updated the result later following the photo finish to give the three women joint-second and automatic entry to the next round.

"I'm absolutely buzzing with that," she told RTÉ Sport's Greg Allen afterwards. "I planned to come fourth but with a fast time, but while my time was a bit slow, I finished strong so absolutely happy with that.

"I'll go into the semi-final and give it everything I have and I've got nothing to lose. I think I shook a few heads there, I'm cementing myself in these surroundings right now. It's where I want to be, maybe a little bit better but one day at a time and it's a great journey to be on."

"I'm going into this evening thinking this is just another run. I'm really looking forward to it, normally I'd be dreading it, I'm buzzing."

Asked about her approach to this evening's semi-final: "I want a PB (51.91) and if I do that I'll be leaving these championships buzzing."

Mawdsley has been drawn favourably in lane four for the first semi-final.

With the quality of Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands (the fastest qualifier in a time of 51.31) and Diggs in the lanes