Paris 2024: Ireland surge into women's 4x400 relay final

Ireland have qualified for the final of the women's 4x400m relay after an impressive third-place finish in their heat at the Stade de France.

Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Kelly McGrory and Sharlene Mawdsley represented Ireland in the event, with the top three in each of the two heats and the two next fastest teams qualifying for the final.

Ireland led the way for a significant stretch of the relay before Mawdsley sealed third in the final leg as they finished in a time of 3:25.05 behind heat winners Jamaica, who stopped the clock in 3:24.92, and the Netherlands (3:25.03).

Mawdsley's individual split of 49.65 was the fastest of any athlete in heat two.

Starting in lane eight, Becker (50.90) made a strong start, holding the lead just ahead of Jamaica before passing the baton to Healy (51.90).

The Cork woman kept Ireland in front but the Netherlands had caught up on the straight just before the changeover to McGrory (52.60).

McGrory kept Ireland in front of the Dutch and Jamaica in the early stages of her leg, but she faded on the home straight as Ireland slipped back to fourth.

Mawdsley ran the final leg and was on the shoulder of third-placed Canada before surging down the straight and almost pipping the Netherlands to second.

Ireland's time was the seventh fastest of the eight teams to progress to the final, with the United States topping the timesheet in 3:21.44.

The final is scheduled to take place at 8.14pm on Saturday night.

Mark English missed out on a place in the men's 800m final after a sixth-place finish in his semi-final heat.

With the top two in each of the three heats plus the two fastest non-automatic qualifiers advancing to the final, the Donegal man had been third at halfway and was well in contention going into the