Her sights might be firmly set on LA 2028 but Sharlene Mawdsley she can’t help but let her thoughts drift back to the events of last summer. And why wouldn’t she?
Think of the Everest-like elation of a European gold in Rome as part of Team Ireland’s 4×400 mixed relay outfit and a cherished silver on top of it in the women’s 4×400.
But then remember the Mariana Trench of bittersweetness just weeks later in Paris. Again running the final leg within the latter quartet – alongside Sophie Becker, Rhasidat Adeleke and Phil Healy – Mawdsley crossed the finish line within an agonising 0.18 seconds of an improbable Irish Olympic relay medal. An immense achievement from the vantage point of we mere mortals, but…