Sharlene Mawdsley: ‘I didn’t believe I was going, maybe a bit of PTSD from not going three years ago’

“I am immensely proud to confirm your selection to represent Team Ireland at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games . . . ,” it read.

Mawdsley is not normally superstitious. However, after what happened three years ago when she was part of the quartet that qualified the Irish 4x400m mixed relay for the Tokyo Olympics but didn’t make the final selection, she was going to wait until official confirmation came this time.

“It’s honestly amazing, a dream come true. Today is the first day I really appreciated it,” Mawdsely said at the Team Ireland base in Blanchardstown. “Until I got that email, I didn’t believe I was going, maybe a bit of PTSD from not going three years ago.”

It is the first time that three Team Ireland athletes have qualified for the women’s 400m at an Olympics with Mawdsley joining European silver medallist Rhasidat Adeleke and Sophie Becker. Since 2000, only three Irish women have qualified for this distance at an Olympics: Karen Shinkins in 2000, Joanne Cuddihy in 2008 and 2012 and Phil Healy in 2021.

Following on from last month’s European Championships with the 4x400m mixed relay gold, women’s 4x400m relay silver and Adeleke and Mawdsley running in the 400m final, these are unprecedented days for Irish women’s 400m running.

“It’s amazing, I’m not sure how many other federations have three women competing in the 400m [in Paris],” Mawdsley continued. “It’s crazy to know our little country will be represented in nearly every heat, even in the women’s 1,500m we have three athletes in that as well. So Irish athletics is making its pathways.”

The Mawdsley Machine is set to be given another airing in Paris. It was on full show when she ran five races in six days at the Europeans in Rome – even if it came with a toll.

“I had a chest infection, everything after Rome, but of course we were sleeping two hours a night from the high that we had. I wouldn’t take it back but I ran in Madrid the week after Rome and I ran my second fastest time. I was on antibiotics and everything.

“But it was just to bring my focus back. Because you could live off these medals for the rest of your life, that’s how I truly feel, that’s how much they mean to me. But to be able to push forward now and actually get ready for the Olympics is so exciting.”

The Newport star will compete in the mixed relay, the 400m and the women’s 4x400m relay in Paris. She’ll run all the events: “I’ll go out on the track as many times as I can, either before my individual event or after.”

However, she understands it’s a more complex decision for Adeleke on whether she runs the mixed relay before her individual event because of her potential to win a medal in the 400m.

“I think Rhasidat has to make the decision that’s best for her. And I would have no hard feelings at all.

“I respect her decision regardless of what she does. Of course, we would absolutely love to have her on the team, that’s no secret, but whatever she does is what’s best for her.”

Mawdsley will have her 26th birthday on Saturday, August 10 which is the final day of the Olympic track programme and the women’s 4x400m relay final is the last event. If anyone can go the distance, Mawdsley can.