THE 2024 OLYMPIC race has come to an end for Irish and Limerick hurdles legend Sarah Lavin, who put in a performance just a hair’s breadth short of her personal best in the semi final of the Women’s 100m Hurdles this Friday morning in Paris.
Coming in sixth in the second semi final of the morning in the Women’s 100m Hurdles at the renowned Stade de France in Paris, a disappointed Sarah Lavin told Irish audiences, who paused with baited breath across the country this morning to watch the Emerald AC athlete in action, “I’m sorry”.
“I’m sorry to everyone at home,” Lavin told RTÉ Sport in a post-race interview, holding back tears.
Lavin had dominated in the opening stretch of the race, finding herself near the front of the pack, but noted that she hit some difficulty on the eighth hurdle. The Lisnagry legend said she was “immensely proud” of her performance this morning.
“I was in a really good position, but that’s hurdles, you have to be precise. It was going to be the best race I could have put out up until the eighth hurdle.”
The Emerald AC athlete described the support she’s received in her 2024 Olympic campaign as amazing, stating that “the people that have been here mean so much to me”.
“I can’t thank people enough, to come into a stadium like this and have such a large roar behind you is incredible – I would have loved to make them that extra bit proud.”
Lavin’s time of 12.69 seconds is just short of her 12.62 all-time personal best, and an improvement on her 12.73 time in her heat on Wednesday.
Her sixth place in Paris marks an impressive upward trajectory from her 32nd place in the previous Olympics in Tokyo in 2021, where she ran a 13.16, and her more recent 11th place in the World Championships in Budapest – where she set her 12.62 personal best.
Described by pundits before the race as a “fantastically consistent championship competitor”, Sarah Lavin has had unwavering support from across Limerick and Ireland throughout her Olympic 2024 bid, after having gone into the Paris Games as the country’s flagbearer alongside golfer Shane Lowry.
A hero’s welcome will await Lavin when she returns home to Limerick in the coming days.
