This Irish team had first qualified automatically in second place in their semifinal yesterday after USA and Dominican Republic were disqualified. After a referral both, teams were reinstated as both faults were down to errors by officials.

Ireland still qualified as the national record breaking time was still fast enough.

The team came out all smiles from inside the stadium to take their position in lane one. The favourites for this race were the USA and Poland.

Ireland’s mixed relay team have qualified for the Olympic final.

GOWAN PHIL! https://t.co/MrQL6YQeAg

— Holly Cairns TD (@HollyCairnsTD) July 30, 2021

Greene was up first for Ireland and got off to a decent start, finishing the first lap in sixth place ahead of Team GB.

He handed over well to Collins who held onto the position until the lanes merged, she was in seventh at the handover.

At the baton change, Jamaica and Germany tangled, leaving the Germans on the ground, dropping their baton. They continued to finish the race well behind the rest but it ultimately did not count.

Becker fought with Jamaica for the seventh place spot and that continued into the last 400m with O’Donnell.

Ireland finished the race in a time of 3:15.04, narrowly in eight, two seconds off their record time.

Poland would take gold with an Olympic record time of 3:09.87. Dominican Republic got silver while the USA were resigned to bronze.

Poland #POL are the inaugural mixed 4x400m relay champions!

And their time of 3:09.87 beats their European record as well! #athletics #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/PPZoZkn4bW

— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) July 31, 2021

This young Irish relay team, although disappointed not to improve on their best time should be very happy with their performance at the inaugural mixed relay event.

This will conitinue to be a team to look out for in the future world championships and for Paris in 2023.

#Athletics

Another super run from the Mixed 4x400m Relay team

They finish 8th in the Olympic final in a time of 3:15.04 – the second fastest time ever behind the national record they set yesterday

What an incredible two days it’s been for them #TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/CkUtFbsktG

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 31, 2021

The post Olympic Athletics: Ireland’s mixed relay get 8th in historic race appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

4 x 400m Relay Round 1 – Sophie Becker, Cillin Greene, Phil Greene, Christopher O’Donnell

The Irish lined up in lane four with decent starting time, the fourth best in the race. The main teams to look out for were the Dominican Republic, Nigeria and the world’s fastest, Team USA.

Greene lined up first for Ireland and ran a very decent race, running a personal best for himself, with the team completing the handover first.

Healy went second for Ireland starting at the top which she held for 200m until the lanes merged. By the next baton handover the top four teams were basically level.

Becker ran next, in which the Nigerian team attempted a different strategy. They used their second male athlete next to give their female a major head start going into the last 400m. Ireland finish the lap in fifth.

O’Donnell was in charge of Ireland’s final run in which he brought blistering pace, overtaking Nigeria with 50m left and holding off an ascending Germany.

Ireland finished the race in fourth, just outside the automatic qualification places, USA first, Dominican Republic second and Belgium third.

But, this is where the race got even more hectic.

Firstly, the world record holding United States team was disqualified. One of their athletes was judged to have started their run outside of the designated area for collecting the baton. This is known as rule TR 24.19, now Ireland sat in third.

#Athletics

The USA have been disqualified, moving Ireland's 4x400m mixed relay team into an Automatic Qualifying position…

For the OLYMPIC FINAL!!!

#TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/RQ97jjHabu

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 30, 2021

Five minutes later and the Dominican Republic were also disqualified. In a more technical rule called TR 24.20, their final runner was seen to illegally change their position in the baton changeover area.

Ireland would have been fast enough to qualify for the final anyway with a time of 3:12.88 but now with these disqualifications, they were second in their heat.

They will now join Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands, Jamaica, Great Britain, Germany and Spain in the final.

The other heat was very fast so they do enter the final as the sixth fastest team. It was a very impressive feat to make the first ever Olympic 4x400m mixed final but hopefully they can find even more energy to leave a mark on the final.

Wow! Two DQs in the mixed 4x400m relay, that opens up the final now. Fair play to the team… maybe Tom Barr for the final, the team did great regardless. #TrackandField #Olympics2020 pic.twitter.com/JZyjspgM8p

— David Somerville (@David_Somervile) July 30, 2021

Other Athletic Results for Day One

Women’s 800m heats

Nadia Power – Heat 2 – 2:03.74 – 7th

Louise Shanahan – Heat 3 – 2:03.57 – 7th

Siofra Cleirigh Buttner – Heat 4 – 2:04.62 – 7th

Men’s 400m Hurdles heats

Thomas Barr – Heat 3 – 49.02 – 2nd (Qualified)

The post Olympic Athletics: Irish 4x400m mixed make final in hectic race appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.