IRELAND HAVE REACHED the final of the women’s 4x400m relay at the Paris Olympic Games.

The Irish team, consisting of Sophie Becker, Phil Healy, Kelly McGrory and Sharlene Mawdsley, clocked a time of 3:25:05 to finish third in their heat and gain automatic qualification for Saturday night’s showpiece at the Stade de France (8:14pm).

Rhasidat Adeleke, who races in tonight’s women’s 400m sprint final, should be available to join the Irish team for their 4x400m decider provided she emerges unscathed.

Sharlene Mawdsley again dug deep in the clutch, her sub-50-second final leg hauling Ireland into the automatic qualification spots in what was a brilliantly executed team race by the women in green.

Rob Heffernan and Derval O'Rourke were particularly impressed with Sophie Becker and Sharlene Mawdsley as Ireland qualified for the women's 4x400m relay final
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Sophie Becker led Ireland out of the tracks — and led the field — with an opening leg of 50.9 seconds. She handed over first to Phil Healy, fractionally ahead of Jamaica, and the West Cork woman maintained the Irish lead for virtually all of the second leg.

Healy, making her first appearance at these Games, clocked 51.90 before passing the baton to Olympic debutant Kelly McGrory.

Donegal’s McGrory (52.60), who specialises in the 400m hurdles, tore into open country and led for 350 metres of her leg before tightening up and being overtaken by Jamaica, the Netherlands and Canada as she reached for Sharlene Mawdsley.

While McGrory had kept Ireland alive, Mawdsley was left with serious work to do in the anchor, trailing the three leaders by a considerable margin and under initial pressure from Italy in fifth.

Initially finding herself squeezed for space, the Tipp woman bided her time before eventually steaming past Canada’s Kyra Constantine in the final hundred and gaining ground to within two hundredths of a second of the Dutch athlete, Lisanne de Witte, at the finish line.

Jamaica, who ran a season’s best, finished first in the heat with their season-best 3:24:92, just over a tenth of a second faster than the Irish quartet.

Mawdsley’s time of 49.65 was the only sub-50 leg in the entire heat and guaranteed Ireland automatic qualification for Saturday’s decider.