Despite an incredible performance at the Paris Olympic Games, the Irish team narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal in the women’s 4x400m relay.

Sharlene Mawdsley ran the final leg for Ireland with the Netherlands in 3:19.50 and Great Britain in 3:19.72, who disputed her for second and third places at the finish line, while the United States team stormed to the gold medal with a time of 3:15.27.

The quartet of Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke, Phil Healy and Mawdsley achieved an astonishing national record of 3:19.90, beating the previous national record of 3:22.71.

Adeleke had arrived after her fourth-place finish in the women’s 400m final, replacing Kelly McGrory from Laghey, who ran in the semi-final on Friday. McGrory would have been the first person from Donegal to win an Olympic medal, and her family and friends gathered at Rambling House to cheer the team on.

Becker clocked 50.90 to take sixth place at the first relay, followed by Adeleke in 48.92, putting Ireland in second place at the halfway point before Healy held on to her position in 50.94. Mawdsley, who was born on her 26th birthday, clocked her best time to date in 49.14 to take fourth place.

This continues a remarkable run of great performances by the Irish women’s 4x400m team on the big stage. The team reached the final of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest last year, the World Indoor Final in Glasgow this year and took silver behind the Dutch at the European Championships in Rome.