Tipperary's Sharlene Mawdsley reaches 400 metres final at World Indoor Athletics Championships

Tipperary's Sharlene Mawdsley has qualified for the final of the 400 metres at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow.

The Newport AC athlete finished third in this evening's first semi-final, which was won by Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands, with Talitha Diggs (United States) in second place.

The final takes place at 9pm tomorrow night, Saturday.

Mawdsley secured her passage to the semi-final in dramatic fashion at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow.

Running in the third of this morning’s heats, she crossed the finish line in joint second place alongside two other athletes who remarkably all set the same time of 52.23 behind race winner Talitha Diggs (USA), who crossed in 52.17.

With no way of splitting the trio, Mawdsley, Amandine Brossier (France) and Henriette Jaeger (Norway) were all awarded automatic qualification to the semi-final.

Speaking after the heat, the Tipperary woman said “I’m buzzing, I felt really good out there. The race was a little slow but I ran well, and the race pretty much played out like I thought it would.

"I planned on taking the break in fourth, which is risky indoors, but it paid off and I finished strong".

She will also compete with the Irish women's 4 x 400 metres relay team in the heats at 11.38 on Sunday morning.