‘I’m going in the right direction’ – Sarah Lavin on fourth place finish in European Indoor women’s 60m hurdles final

Only in truth, there was nothing more Lavin could have done.

Sometimes your best on the day just isn’t enough. The Limerick hurdler clocked 7.92 in the European Indoor 60m hurdles final in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, a season’s best. But she could only look on at three of the best European hurdlers in history ahead of her, who had their hands on what she wanted most.

Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji took gold in a European record of 7.67, with Dutch star Nadine Visser second in a national record of 7.72 and Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska third in 7.83. Then came Lavin, smiling through her frustration, shrugging off the inevitable tinge of sadness, pride still firmly on the scene.

“It’s meh,” she said. “I feel I can get into the 7.80s and I didn’t execute that, and that’s my only disappointment. The three girls ahead of me literally had the race of their lives. If I need to compete with those girls, my first hurdle has to be better. I have the raw materials and if I’m there at hurdle one, I’m in the mix.”

Lavin has now made four straight finals at major indoor championships: seventh at the World Indoors in 2022, sixth at the Europeans in 2023 and fifth at the World’s last year.

And now this: fourth. “I’m going in the right direction anyway,” she laughed, before looking ahead to the World Indoors in China later this month, where the competition will be stiffer but Lavin is again likely to be knocking on the door of those podium positions.

Granted, she does already have a senior medal for Ireland, winning a European Games bronze in the 100m hurdles in 2023, but that’s an event that doesn’t hold quite the same prestige as this, given nations are split into separate leagues and Lavin only found out she won that medal days after her race, when two other athletes beat her time in the top division.

And so she went to the line with a burning desire to get inside those top-three places. Her form had been so-so for much of the indoor season, the confidence she gleans from racing absent, but in this championship cauldron, she again found something, a testament to her tenacity, and composure under pressure. “I have to be proud,” she said.

Elsewhere, Jakob Ingebrigtsen reasserted his dominance in his beloved distance, the Norwegian star utilising his usual tactics to win his third straight European Indoor 1500m title. He wound the pace up steadily over the closing four laps and came home a comfortable winner in 3:36.56, with a strong chance of adding a second gold in the 3000m.

There was heartbreak for Sharlene Mawdsley, the Newport sprinter forced to withdraw from the 400m heats after suffering a slight injury in her hamstring during the warm-up. “My hamstring was a bit tight yesterday and I had Physio just before the call room and it settled it,” she said. “This morning, I felt good but it just persisted and if I went on the track, it would have got worse and worse. I didn’t want to tear it completely.”

Saturday will be another busy day at the Omnisport Arena, with Sarah Healy the first of the Irish in action, needing a top-six finish in her 3000m heat to tee up her medal chance in the final. In the evening, Mark English and Cian McPhillips will face tricky assignments in the men’s 800m semi-finals, with the first three to make the final.

English’s heat is likely to be particularly chaotic, with eight athletes competing due to a rake of protests and advancements from the semi-finals, one of whom was McPhillips, who fell on the final lap.

Irish in action, Saturday (all times Irish)

9.20am: Sarah Healy, Jodie McCann, women’s 3000m heats

11am: Bori Akinola, men’s 60m heats

11.45am: Andrew Coscoran, James Gormley, men’s 3000m heats

12.17pm: Orla Comerford, mixed para 60m

6.10pm: *Bori Akinola, men’s 60m semi-final

7.13pm: Mark English, Cian McPhillips, men’s 800m semi-finals

8.40pm: *Bori Akinola, men’s 60m final

*Pending qualification