Sharlene Mawdsley produced an impressive 400m victory at the Savona International Meeting in Italy on Wednesday night, running a lifetime best of 50.52 seconds in her first individual race of the season.This improved her previous best of 50.71 seconds set at the Paris Olympics in 2024, and edges Mawdsley closer to the 50-second barrier. She finished almost a second clear of Talitha Diggs from the US, second in 51.47, with Italy’s Eloisa Coiro third in 51.79.The Tipperary sprinter had already shown her promising early-season form with a superb anchor leg for Ireland in the 4x400m relay at the World Relays in Botswana last month, where she was given a split time of 48.34 seconds.Wednesday’s effort is also well inside the qualifying time for the European Championships in Birmingham in August. Two years ago she reached the 400m final at the European Championship in Rome, in which Rhasidat Adeleke won silver and set her Irish record of 49.07 seconds.Meanwhile, Athletics Ireland have announced an additional funding package of €210,000, through Sport Ireland, as part of their 2025-2028 Olympic cycle Professional Coach Programme.Mark Kenneally, who has served as performance endurance lead since 2023, will take on additional responsibility as performance coaching lead and will oversee the investment.Emmett Dunleavy has been appointed performance endurance coach and will work alongside Kenneally in overseeing the National Endurance Group.Jacqui Freyne, who has led the pathway programme since 2015, will be supported by Niamh Fitzgerald, who has been appointed as pathway endurance coach. Karen Kirk becomes pathway sprints and relays lead, with Barry Pender and Tom Reynolds joining the high performance team as performance jumps coaches.