Sarah Lavin kicked off her Olympics campaign in an impressive fashion this morning, finishing second in her 100m hurdles heat in Paris to book her place in a semi-final.
The Limerick woman had a long wait before finally taking to the track in this summer's games. Having acted as Ireland's flag bearer at the opening ceremony on July 26th, she was forced to wait 12 days before finally taking part in her first race.
Thankfully, there were few signs of rust when Lavin did finally make her appearance at the Olympics. She would finish second in her heat, comfortably booking her place in the semi-final.
She will now have a day off tomorrow, before returning for the next round of the event on Friday morning.
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Sarah Lavin Says Late Olympics Start Caused Confusion In Athlete's Village
This was an excellent performance from Sarah Lavin, although she will be hoping to improve on it later this week. Her time of 12.73 seconds was still well outside her Irish national record of 12.62 seconds, a mark she will be hoping to better in her quest to make an Olympic final.
Speaking to RTÉ after the race, she admitted that while she was delighted to get through, there were areas she needed to improve upon in her next race. The Limerick woman also opened up on the rather strange dynamic she had faced in the Olympic village in recent days.
'Feeling good, that's the really scary round'
- Sarah Lavin talks to RTÉ Sport following her 100m hurdles heat#RTESport #Paris2024
📺 https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ
📱Updates https://t.co/uz2rnhGOm9 pic.twitter.com/FH8qxauhBF— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 7, 2024
That's a really scary round, to have that one under the belt is great. I definitely need to be far more aggressive and all the best in the next round, but all you could get this morning was the big 'Q' and I have that...
I 100 per cent think that's the scariest round. The next one is the most difficult, because so many girls are capable of making that top eight.
You need to be clean and also just go for it. The brave will be rewarded. That's a pretty scary thing to do in a heat when all that's up on offer is a 'Q', and yet you know if you get the 'Q', you get the day off tomorrow.
It was funny bartering with myself saying 'come on you can do this', but I do need to be a lot more aggressive and keep myself a lot tighter over the hurdles...
It was getting to the point where I was meeting people in the (Olympic) village and they weren't sure whether to approach me because they weren't sure whether I was on or not! They were saying they weren't sure, I was saying to them 'no Wednesday, Wednesday'.
But I mean to be part of this team, the greatest ever Irish Olympic team, what an honour, what a privilege, and now to keep the ball rolling on the track.
Everyone in Team Ireland will certainly be well aware of Sarah Lavin's Olympic progress after this race.
She will now get her preparations underway for Friday's semi-final, which will take place just after 11am Irish time.
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