Ireland secured a first European Athletics Championships gold medal since 1998 as their 4x400m mixed relay team clinched a sensational victory in Rome.
The Irish quartet of Chris O’Donnell, Rhasidat Adeleke, Thomas Barr and Sharlene Mawdsley finished 0.77 seconds ahead of Italy with the fancied Netherlands team led by Femke Bol having to settle for bronze.
Bol was left with too much to do in the final leg as the Dutch finished 0.81 seconds behind an Irish quartet that took 1.61 seconds off the national record set when they finished third behind the USA and the Netherlands at last month’s World Relays in the Bahamas.
Mawdsley’s split time of 49.40 seconds was 0.13 seconds quicker than Adeleke’s with O’Donnell clocking 46.09 and 400m hurdler Barr producing a superb leg of 44.90.
After O’Donnell’s steady opening leg, Olympic Games medal hopeful Adeleke got the Irish into serious contention as she outpaced Bol’s highly-rated team-mate Lieke Klaver.
Barr ran brilliantly to keep alive Ireland’s gold medal hopes as anchor leg runner Mawdsley took the baton in second place behind Belgium.
The Tipperary woman moved into the lead with just over 100 metres left before powering clear to cross the line in three minutes 9.92 seconds.
Legendary distance runner Sonia O’Sullivan was the only Irish athlete to have previously lifted European gold after achieving the 5,000m and 10,000m double in 1998 having won the 3,000m title four years earlier.