Roisin Flanagan posts PB to finish 15th in World Indoors

Roisin Flanagan secured a personal best time but finished second last in the women's 3,000m final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

The Finn Valley AC athlete finished 15th in the 16-strong field but ran a PB of 8:53.02 in the event, beating her previous best of 8:53.50.

Flanagan is now fifth on the Irish all-time list over the distance, behind Sarah Healy's national record of 8:36.06, which was set in February, at the World Indoor Tour Meet in France.

The race was won by American Elle St. Clair, who set a competition record of 8:20:87 ahead of Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay (8:21:13) and Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya (8:22:68).

Speaking after the race, Flanagan, who is based in Colorado in the United States, said: "It's pretty incredible to be here. When I got the call, I didn’t think twice about it because these opportunities don’t come around too often to race the best of the best and to be in that field".

She continued: "I knew coming in that these athletes had very fast personal bests, so I wanted to run smart and give myself a chance of running a personal best which is what I’ve done, so I have to be happy with that. I was hoping for a little bit faster, especially in that standard of race, but I was pretty dead by the end of it so I’m happy I gave it my all".

Irish interest on Saturday night was limited to Flanagan, following Sharlene Mawdsley's disqualifation in the aftermath of the 400m semi-final on Friday. The Tipperary native crossed the line in third position but was adjudged to have obstructed Austria's Susanne Gogl-Walli towards the end of the race.

On Sunday morning, Sarah Lavin will take part in the women's 60m hurdles heats, with the race going off at 10.25am. The semi-final of the event will take