Irish 4x400m team looking to make another big statement in Oregon

The 4 x 400 metres mixed relay team are the first Irish athletes in action when the 2022 World Athletic Championships gets underway in Oregon this evening and they're looking to start with a bang.

The team of Christopher O’Donnell, Sophie Becker, John Raftery and Rhasidat Adeleke go in the second heat of their event just before 8pm Irish time.

O’Donnell and Becker announced themselves on the world stage when they helped the 4 x 400m team to the Olympic final in this event in Tokyo last year and at the World Athletics Relays in Selesia.

They'll be joined by Raftery and Adeleke for this year's biggest athletics event.

Having had a taste of racing for the most prestigious medals in athletics at the Olympics, O’Donnell is eager to repeat the feat in Oregon.

"We’ve set our expectations and we fully believe we make the final," he said.

"I’ve was there and I ran at the World Relays and in Tokyo and I feel like there’s something a bit special about this team, two global finals for such a small country. We’ve been doing pretty well to be fair.

"You look at the team we have and there’s no reason we can’t be in there again, I think it’s going to be very tight again either way.

"We’ve looked at out heat draw and looked at our lane draw and even if we’re not top three, we’re probably good enough to get in the next qualify spots. That’s absolutely what we’re aiming for.

"We’re not going to get carried away. In Tokyo and Selisa at the World Relays when we got to the finals it was such a shock and such a big surprise and the phones were going crazy.

"We were so surprised last year to make the finals and now we’re expecting to make the finals and now we’re expecting to make the finals so if we do, it’s going to be heads on.

"Last year we didn’t