SHARLENE MAWDSLEY briefly thought about leaving the World Indoor Championships after being disqualified from her individual event.
But she revealed that she had all but given up on athletics as a student before being persuaded to persevere.
Earlier this month, ecstasy turned to agony for Tipperary’s Mawdsley when she booked her place in the 400m final in Glasgow before being disqualified for obstructing Austria’s Susanne Gogl-Walli.
Apart from the sporting blow, it at the very least delayed her hopes of increased funding, although a three-year deal with Puma has helped financially.
She was of a mind not to hang around for the 4x400m relay and reckons it will be a while before she feels up for another indoor race.
Mawdsley admitted: “I briefly thought that but it would have been a long block of training without having another race.
“I think I was blessed to have had the relay after it.”
And she ran an impressive 50.47 leg in the final when, along with Phil Healy, Sophie Becker and Róisín Harrison, Ireland came fifth.
After helping the 4x400m mixed relay team qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, only not to be selected for the Games itself, she is taking nothing for granted when it comes to Paris.
But she should comfortably qualify in the individual event.
She said: “I get messages now saying, ‘It’s amazing to see you’ll be at the Olympics’.
“And I don’t reply to them because I don’t have my feet on the plane. Even things like, they ask you to fill out your kit sizes for the ceremony but of course I’m not doing that.
“I’m not doing anything until I have my confirmation that I’m going to the Olympics.
“I think even if I run the standard I’ll still have to wait for them to phone me to say, ‘You’ve qualified, you’re going’.”
In May, she will be in the Bahamas at the World Relay Championships with the women’s team to be strengthened with Rhasidat Adeleke who did not travel to Glasgow.
She said: “Hopefully when we add Rhasidat there will be national records broken again.”
There is some lingering upset that Gogl-Walli did not reach out to her after the incident in Glasgow.
But, through the help of sports psychologist Jo-Anne Browne and her own grit, she is channelling the overriding sense of frustration.
She said: “I had a hill session last week and that last rep I did not want to finish and all I was thinking in my head was, ‘I’ve a point to prove’.
“Bouncing back is something I’m quite good at. Before, I was going in almost beat before I got to the start line.
“Working with Jo-Anne has made me more resilient.”
BACK FROM THE BRINK
Her biggest comeback has been from almost giving up on the sport before being linked up with Olympian Gary Ryan, who had been a fitness coach for the Tipperary hurling team.
She recalled: “When I was in my first year in college, I stopped running. I didn’t race at all in 2018.
“It was the new scene of being in college, making friends and going out. I kept getting injured and didn’t race at all. I left the coaches I’d been with.
“I was at a festival in Sligo, and Roddy Gaynor texted me to say, ‘You have to keep running, there’s no way you’re quitting, and what about Gary Ryan?’
“Gary was with Tipperary at the time. I reached out to him, said I was looking for a running coach and was wondering if he would be interested.”
Having been dogged by hamstring injuries, Ryan suggested a move up from 200m with the decision and partnership reaping dividends.
She said: “At the start, I didn’t really realise how lucky I was to have someone who has experienced all the highs and the lows as well.
“I used to go to training and say, ‘Oh I can’t do this session’ or, ‘I can’t do that’ and then when he said, ‘I will never write you a session that I know you can’t complete’ . . .
“I was like ‘Yeah but . . .’ and he said, ‘No, but I’ve been there’. And I was like, ‘Oh, OK’.”
l SHARLENE MAWDSLEY spoke after she was unveiled as an ambassador for Biofreeze.
