Mageean & O'Connor start impressively in Budapest
Northern Irish athletes Ciara Mageean and Kate O'Connor both made impressive starts to their World Championships campaigns in Budapest on Saturday.
Medal hope Mageean achieved routine progression from her 1500m heat as she was the third of the six automatic qualifiers after a composed run.
O'Connor, meanwhile, lies 11th after the opening four heptathlon events.
The Commonwealth Games silver medallist followed a 100m hurdles personal best with a strong high jump performance.
That left her in eighth spot but she dropped to 10th place following a somewhat below-par shot put and despite being only 0.05 seconds outside her 200m personal best, finished day one in 11th spot.
European Championship and Commonwealth Games 1500m medallist Mageean, 31, has been in brilliant form this season having smashed Sonia O'Sullivan's long-standing Irish mile record.
The Portaferry woman was expected to come through her heat and duly progressed to Sunday evening's semi-finals as her time of 4:03.52 left her inches behind Ethiopia's Hirut Meshesha and Australia's Jessica Hull.
Healy also into women's 1500m semi-finalsMageean's team-mate Sarah Healy also impressively reached the 1500m semi-finals as her time of 4:03.00 was 0.38 seconds behind world record holder and hot favourite, Kenya's Faith Kipyegon, as the qualifiers behind the 22-year-old Irish woman included Great Britain's fifth-placed Melissa Courtney-Bryant and experienced Spaniard Esther Guerrero.
Sophie O'Sullivan, a daughter of 1995 world 5,000m champion O'Sullivan, took more than five seconds off her 1500m personal best when clocking 4:02.15 in her heat but narrowly missed out on qualification after running out of gas in the closing 50 metres as she finished eighth following the bravest of runs.
This year's European Under-23 champion's performance was inside the Olympic Games standard of 4:02.50 and moves her up to fifth on the Irish all-time list behind Mageean, her mother, Healy and Geraldine Hendricken.
Nick Griggs raced in opening men's 1500m heat which was won by Olympic champion Jakob IngebrigtsenAndrew Coscoran was the sole Irish men's 1500m hopefuls to progress to the semi-finals of that event as 18-year-old Nick Griggs and Luke McCann both exited.
Griggs toed the startline next to Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen but predictably found the going tough as he dropped back over the closing two laps to finish last of the 12th finishers in 3:40.72 - 4.63 seconds outside his personal best set in Nice last month - as the Norwegian star won the heat in 3:33.94 ahead of Great Britain's Josh Kerr (3:34.00).
McCann was in by far the slowest of the four heats and despite being in one of the six qualifying positions with 60 metres remaining, was run out of it in a frantic conclusion as he finished 10th in 3:47.48, with Britain's Neil Gourley one of the athletes who produced a late burst to secure a semi-finals spot.
Balbriggan man Coscoran, who went into the championships 13th in this year's world rankings having improved the Irish record to 3:30:42, ran a tactically sound heat as he was one of six athletes clear with 50 metres left as he eventually finished sixth in 3:34:75 with Kenya's Abel Kipsang crossing the line first in 3:34.08.
Heptathlete O'Connor - who has targeted a top-10 finish in Budapest - had a superb morning as she clocked 13.57 seconds in the opening 100m hurdles which was 0.17 inside her PB set at last year's Commonwealth Games.
The Dundalk woman's high jump of 1.80m was only 0.01 off her lifetime best as she moved up four places in the overall standings to eighth spot.
O'Connor dropped to 10th place after a shot put performance of 13.47m which was 1.07m down on her personal best set two years ago before regrouping with her 200m performance.
Ireland sixth in dramatic mixed relay finalIreland's 4x400m mixed relay team qualified for their final of their event where they finished in sixth spot after a dramatic finish.
The Irish quartet of Jack Raftery, Sophie Becker, Chris O'Donnell and Sharlene Mawdsley were one of the two fastest non-automatic qualifiers after finishing fourth in the opening heat in 3:13.90.
They clocked 3:14.14 in the final as the USA clinched victory with Netherlands star Femke Bol falling just yards from the finishing line as she tried to hold off the Americans, which led to the Dutch being disqualified after Bol eventually crossed the line in third spot but minus the baton.
That left Britain to take the silver medal as the Czech Republic took bronze, 2.29 seconds ahead of the Irish.
Walker David Kenny was the first Irish athlete in action in the 20km walk in the morning session but dropped out at the 16km mark while Eric Favours missed out on a place in the shot put final as his best effort of 19.65m - 0.99 down on his personal best - left him 23rd overall.
