Ireland’s Sharlene Mawdsley broke her 400m lifetime best for the second time in the space of four days at the IFAM Outdoor in Brussels, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting, on Saturday (23).
After clocking 50.52 in Savona on Wednesday, Mawdsley shaved more than three-tenths off her PB with a 50.17 clocking, putting the 50 second-barrier firmly within the Irishwoman’s sights.
Mawdsley won by a clear margin from Belgium’s Helene Ponette (51.15) with France’s Isabelle Black, the daughter of 1986 and 1990 European champion Roger, third in a big lifetime best of 51.34.
On the second day, Mawdsley made it two victories from two races by winning the 200m in another lifetime best of 23.09.
Reigning European U23 champion Jonas Phijffers from the Netherlands won the men’s 400m in 44.95 ahead of Belgium’s Jonathan Sacoor in 45.26.
In the women’s 5000m, Kenya’s Mirriam Cherop took the victory in 14:50.34 ahead of European 10,000m bronze medallist Megan Keith from Great Britain in 14:54.92.
In fifth, 18-year-old Swede Carmen Cernjul ran a big lifetime best of 15:06.71 to move to sixth on the European U20 all-time list. She finished just ahead of multiple European indoor and outdoor Laura Muir who clocked 15:07.02.
Another highlight on the second day came in the 110m hurdles with Belgium's Michael Obasuyi setting a European lead of 13.22, just 0.03 shy of his lifetime best and national record.
Elsewhere around Europe…
In his last competition before tackling the decathlon at the Gotzis Hypo-Meeting, world indoor champion Simon Ehammer jumped 8.19 in the long jump at the Pfingstmeeting in Zofingen, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger meeting, on Saturday.
On the track, 22-year-old Fabienne Hoenke made a big breakthrough in the 200m, improving from 22.96 to 22.59 ahead of Leonie Pointet in 22.69. Salome Kora also won the 100m in 11.22 ahead of Cynthia Reinle (11.24) and Ajla Del Ponte (11.24) with the latter clocking 11.11 in her heat.
The best performance of the TIPOS Challenge Slovakia in Martin, a World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger meeting, came from Jakub Kubinec who won the javelin with 83.59m.
Finland’s former European U20 and U23 hammer champion Silja Kosonen achieved the third longest throw of her career on home soil in Tammela on Saturday with 76.40m.
Austrian records fell in both the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m in Villach on Saturday. Their 4x100m team clocked 43.77 and their 4x400m team finished second to Slovakia - 3:31.83 to 3:32.71 - to break a national record which had stood for 50 years.
Impressively, the Austrian team achieved the national record in the 4x400m even in the absence of national record-holder Susanne Gogl-Walli due to a calf injury.