Ireland’s Sophie O’Sullivan says it “feels pretty good” to join her mother Sonia as an Olympian.

Sophie, 22, made her debut at the Games in the heats of the 1500 metres and narrowly missed out on an automatic place in the semi-finals.

Her mum was a silver medallist in the 5,000 metres at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

“I saw that there had been only maybe three mother/daughter Olympians, so that’s been fun,” Sophie told BBC Sport NI after her heat.

It feels pretty good. She is here with me and it’s great to have her here.”

On her Olympic debut, O’Sullivan put in a strong showing at the Stade de France and set a personal best to qualify for the repechage on Wednesday morning.

She believes she could have broken into the top six if not for a collision with Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka with 150m remaining.

“Immediately, I’m a little bit disappointed as it’s right there,” she said.

“I really thought I had it but maybe that is the problem. When you think you have it you can get too excited.

“I didn’t think it was very fast at all, which I guess is a good sign. I feel better than that.

“I got a big caught up and tripped at the last bend. That slowed me down and I can come back tomorrow and have a good crack at it.”

I’m focusing on the things I know I can do well’ – Less-is-more approach the right choice for Sophie O’Sullivan

There is no quick or easy way to access Sophie O’Sullivan in college in Seattle. These are busy days in the life of the student athlete, now in her senior year, more so with next summer’s Paris Olympics already in mind. No time to lose.

So somewhere in between the eight time zones and her full-on schedule she suggests a possible slot around noon, her time, when it turns out she’s in the gym doing some core exercise work. “I’ll be good to talk then,” she says.

With so much to talk about – and by Irish standards O’Sullivan’s giant strides on the track this summer are arguably second only to Rhasidat Adeleke, her European Under-23 gold a first by any Irish athlete – it’s important to get straight down to business.

“So how is the weather up there these days?”