Ireland women’s 4x400m relay team finished an agonising fourth in the Olympic Final as they were narrowly pipped for bronze by Great Britain.
The Irish quartet took nearly three seconds off the national record they set when winning silver at the European Championships but missed out on a medal as they came in 0.18 and 0.40 seconds behind bronze and silver medallists, Great Britain and the Netherlands.
With the dominant USA taking a dominant victory by 4.23 seconds, the Irish were involved in a scrap for the remaining medals with the Dutch and Great Britain.
Sophie Becker’s superb opening leg put the Irish in fourth place and that became second spot behind the runaway Americas after individual 400m fourth placer Rhasidat Adeleke from Friday evening produced a brilliant run after she took the baton.
Leg-three runner Phil Healy kept the Irish in the medal positions but it was a three-way fight for the two remaining medals behind USA going into the anchor leg.
Despite Mawdsley’s relay brilliance, she was facing a huge task in attempt to hold off Dutch star Femke Bol and Great Britain’s Amber Anning who finished fifth in the individual 400m final, inches behind Adeleke.
Prior to winning her 400m hurdles bronze medal, Bol had already performed relay heroics in sensationally running down the US anchor runner to ensure a Dutch triumph in the 4x400m mixed relay.
Tipperary woman Mawdsley produced a sensational closing leg of 48.64 seconds but it still wasn’t enough to secure the Irish a medal as they finished inches off a podium spot.
Becker’s split was 50.90 seconds, Adeleke’s 48.92 with Cork athlete Healy also running a superb leg of 50.94 to keep the Irish in medal contention as their eventual time took 2.81 second off the national record set at the European Championships in Rome, when they were pipped for gold by the Dutch.
The Irish quartet had been hoping to add to the country’s Paris tally of four gold medals and three bronze.