Ireland dominate to win fifth Wellington CSIO4* Nations Cup
The Underwriting Exchange Irish Show Jumping team won a fifth CSIO4* Wellington International Nations Cup after an utterly dominant performance at the Florida venue overnight.
Michael Blake’s team of Darragh Kenny on Eddy Blue, David O’Brien on El Balou Old, Shane Sweetnam on RR Combella and Cian O’Connor on Fancy De Kergane finished on a total of 10 faults to win with plenty in hand.
Clear first rounds from Kenny, O’Brien on his Nations Cup debut, and O’Connor meant that Ireland led at the halfway point on a zero score.
A second round pole down for Kenny and Sweetnam, added to just two time faults for O’Brien, saw Ireland win without O’Connor needing to jump for a second time, such was their dominance.
Canada finished in the runner-up position on 20 faults and hosts USA completed the podium with a final score of 24.
Horse Sport Ireland Show Jumping High Performance Director Michael Blake said: “I’m delighted with the boys – that was a fantastic performance.
“We really set ourselves up early on with clear rounds from Darragh and David – we weren’t for catching from then on.
Ireland Men's Sevens Take Bronze In Los Angeles
The Ireland Men’s Sevens team avenged a pool defeat by Spain to take their place on another HSBC SVNS Series podium by winning bronze at the LA 7s.
Having been knocked out of Cup contention by eventual champions France for the second week running, Ireland signed off at Dignity Health Sports Park with a deserved 24-7 3rd place play-off win over Spain.
Zac Ward touched down twice to take his weekend’s haul to five tries, and Ed Kelly and Chay Mullins also crossed the whitewash, as James Topping’s side bagged their second bronze in three SVNS Series legs.
With a top five finish at each of the first five events this season, Ireland remain second in the overall SVNS Series standings, sitting on 70 points – six clear of third-placed Fiji, and 20 behind leaders Argentina – ahead of the Hong Kong Sevens in early April.
All roads lead to the Grand Final in Madrid (May 31-June 2), when the top eight-ranked teams will compete to be crowned SVNS Series champions for 2024. It is all to play for with SVNS Series rankings a key factor in determining the seedings for the Olympic Games.
Sarah Lavin Finishes 5th in The World
Lavin clocked a 7.91 in tonight’s final which was just one hundredth of a second outside of her PB which she clocked on two occasions earlier today. Tonight’s result completes a remarkably consistent trio of performances at these championships with Lavin posting her lifetime best of 7.90 in both the heats and semi-final.
Speaking after the race, Lavin who was competing in her second World Indoor 60m hurdles final, said: “To finish 5th in the world is amazing and to do it in final where the world record was broken too. 7.79 won bronze today, and that’s never be required before to win a medal so it just shows where the standard is going”.
Women's 4x400m relay finish 5th in the world also!
A remarkable run for the women’s 4x400m relay team, who have now made finals at recent European Championships, World Outdoors, and now World Indoors.
Speaking after the race, Phil Healy, who led the team out in the opening leg, said: “It’s a testament to the squad we have. We’ve great subs back in warm up and the team is constantly changing which drives everyone on. It’s a big year for us, we have World Relays in a few weeks, a European Championships, and an Olympic Games (subject to qualification), so to come 5th in the world, and to be so close to the national record again is really super for this team.”
Only one athlete clocked a faster leg than Sharlene Mawdsley in the final (Lieke Klaver 50.26), and she spoke of her pride in the team and what they had achieved this weekend, she said: “I never felt pain like that before, I left everything on the track out there. We have a great group of girls involved in the relay squad now and Irish athletics in general is in such a great place, so I think a lot of other teams are going to be watching out for Ireland at future championships”.
