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Sarah Lavin was the shining light on an otherwise dim day for Irish success at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, the Limerick athlete improving her own lifetime best to secure one of the automatic semi-final berths in the 60 metres hurdles.
It means Lavin returns to the Stark Arena later ono Saturday evening, lining up in the third of the three semi-finals (set for 5.31pm Irish time) after clocking 8.03 seconds to qualify, improving her previous best of 8.06. Lavin may well need to run faster again to make the final but still she’s in there with a chance.
At 27, and competing on the World Indoor stage for the first time, Lavin certainly took her first chance, despite the early morning start, taking third in her heat. Victory there went to Cyréna Samba-Mayela of France in 7.91. Only the top two in each semi-final, plus the two next fastest qualifiers, make the final, which is set for 8.08pm Irish time.
“To run a PB on the biggest stage, it’s a bit of an ask to do it at 9am after being up so early, but I’m obviously thrilled and I’ll move on now,” said Lavin. “I’ll look back on the race and I’m looking for a few more hundredths of a second,
“But it’s a proud day for me, my coach, family and friends - everyone who’s helped me get here.” In all she was ninth fastest qualifying, with eight making her final, her 8.03 also ranked her fourth in her semi-final based on 2022 times.
Lavin has been eying the eight second barrier all season, her 8.03 bringing her ever closer, still that’s the likely barrier to a potential final.
Luke McCann and Andrew Coscoran both had the goal of making the 1,500m final, only it wasn’t to be, McCann exciting in the first of the four heats after training off on the last two laps, the 24-year-old clocking 3:44.03 to finish seventh.
With Jakob Ingebrigtsen for company - the Norwegian world record holder finishing safe in second - McCann needed to produce something big, and there was little disguising his disappointment.
Likewise with Coscoran, who was looking to build his Olympic semi-final appearance last summer; despite racing close to the front early on, he also lost ground on the last two laps and finished fifth in his heat in 3:40.53. Only the top two in each heat were automatic, both their times well short of making it as one of the four fastest non-qualifiers, Coscoran’s Belgrade preparations not helped by a recent bout of Covid.
Síofra Cléirigh-Buttner also came to the championships in mixed form and bowed out of the 800 metres when clocking 2:06.99 to finish fifth in her heat.
At 19 years of age, Israel Olatunde was making his first appearance on the World stage in the 60m, his time of 6.66 leaving him in fourth, also short of what was required to advance.
The morning session did bring considerable joy for Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who won the women’s high jump with a leap of 2.02m to take gold as the war rages on in her home nation. Mahuchikh only made it to Belgradea thanks to the collaboration between World Athletics and the Ukrainian, Romanian and Serbian federations saw her make a three-day, 2,000km journey last week.