Sharlene Mawdsley: 'A lot of people wouldn’t have been disqualified for what I did'

In a successful Indoor World Championships for Ireland, it was quite the dramatic few days for Sharlene Mawdsley.

The Tipperary athlete looked like she had qualified for the final of the 400 metres with an impressive display in the semi-final.

However, moments later, Mawdsley was controversially disqualified for obstruction in the race, and despite an appeal, her final hopes were taken away from her.

While she admitted she thought there was a possibility of action being taken after the race, the 25-year-old felt she was quite hard done by.

"I kind of thought ‘maybe’. Because the race was quite messy, of course there is argy-bargy all the time, but at the break I felt I was quite hard done by. The girl pushed me back, so I had to sit in on the break. A lot of people wouldn’t have been disqualified for what I did, but unfortunately, that’s just how it rolls.

"Initially the appeal went in, and I was fine. I was thinking it was grand, we’re going to counter appeal it. I knew I deserved to be there. Then I found out I really was disqualified, and it was different emotions then. I was really upset.

"I had my coach there, thankfully. Everyone was as disappointed for me as I was for myself. The night was hard, I didn’t get much sleep. I was playing it out over and over in my head, what if I had waited like I did in the heat?

"I didn’t want to think I was the only person suffering from a simple mistake, but it was hard to watch other races. I didn’t watch too many of them. I remember we were doing an interview and watching the men’s 800m, and I was like," this is crazy, I didn’t do anything like that.

"In the end, the decision was made, and I just had to get on with it."

It was not Mawdsley's first time bouncing back from