LAST UPDATE | 23 Mar

The 42

AN EARLY MISTAKE cost Sarah Lavin her chance of a place in the 60m hurdles final as she bowed out of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China on Sunday.

Limerick’s Lavin, who was fifth at World Indoors in Glasgow last year, never recovered from hitting the first hurdle in her semi-final as she finished seventh in a disappointing 8.14 seconds.

A top-two finish and automatic qualification already looked beyond Lavin’s reach when a stroke of bad luck cost her valuable fractions at the finish. Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent hit her final hurdle and the top became dislodged from the base, bouncing across Lavin’s lane and forcing her to change course slightly.

Nugent recovered to take second in 8.00 seconds behind European bronze medallist Pia Skrzyszowska of Poland (7.79s).

Overnight on Sunday, Lavin successfully negotiated her heat with 8.04 seconds in her opener — more than a tenth of a second outside her season’s best, but still comfortably enough to see her through one of the slower heats and safely into the semi-finals.

Drawn against reigning world indoor champion Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas, Lavin finished second of the heat’s four automatic qualifiers as Charlton tuned up for her title defence with a 7.94 run that barely took her out of third gear.

The world final takes place at 1.01pm on Sunday.

Written by Niall Kelly and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.