SARAH LAVIN lowered her personal best to soar into the Women’s 60m Hurdles semi-final at the World Athletics Championships.
The Irish star clocked a time of 7.90 – beating out last year’s winner Finland’s Reetta Hurske who finished on 7.97.
— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) March 3, 2024
“To know that today I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in my life it’s nice…Onto the semi-final.”
Sarah Lavin speaks to us after advancing to the semi-final of the Women’s 60m Hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow
Lavin won her heat in a new PB of 7.90… pic.twitter.com/2P1lPkM41r
“To know that today I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in my life it’s nice…Onto the semi-final.”
Lavin’s previous personal best was 7.91 which she had equalled recently on her way to claiming her sixth national indoor 60m hurdles title.
The 29-year-old returns for semi-final action at 7:40pm, with the final scheduled for 9pm.
Speaking to Athletics Ireland after the race, Lavin hailed her stellar fitness while looking forward to a bit of rest before this evening.
She said: “To know today you’re in the best shape you’ve ever been in your life is yeah, it’s good, it’s nice and onto the semi-final.
“All I could get today was a big cue this morning and if I have that and to also have that PB secured is yeah it’s confidence I guess.”
Lavin acknowledged that she will have to push herself even harder this evening to march on to the final.
She continued: “Of course, to make a world final – any world final is very difficult – to make a sprint world final you’re looking at, that’s not a soft field out there.
“Best to have ever done it is right amongst us, so yeah it’s going to require a big performance but I’ll give it my all.”
The Emerald AC athlete got a huge response from the Irish crowd in Glasgow and she appreciated every second of it.
Lavin added: “I couldn’t help but smile to be honest with you. Oh my gosh this is the closest you’ll ever feel to home.
“I think there’s also that great relationship between the Scottish and the Irish.
“Yeah there were so many Irish flags out there. It was special.”
Lavin went on to lay out her plan to recover for the rest of the day as she intends to eat and hopefully sleep for a while.
Meanwhile, the women’s 4x400m relay team took the sixth spot in the final after a brilliant performance in their semi-final.
Sharlene Mawdsley ran the quickest leg of all the athletes on show as Ireland finished fourth in the women’s 4x400m relay.
This helped to set a new national record of 3:28.45 alongside Phil Healy, Sophie Becker and Róisín Harrison.