Rhasidat Adeleke has skyrocketed to fame, securing her title as the fastest woman in Ireland. She reached this milestone after completing the 100 metres sprint in a mere 11.13 seconds, breaking yet another Irish record. Everyone had been expecting it, and now Adeleke holds all Irish sprint records.
The 152nd National Track and Field championships have never seen a competition as intensely awaited as the one between Adeleke and Sarah Lavin. Lavin was the previous holder of the Irish women’s 100m record with a time of 11.27 seconds, and she also holds the nation’s sprint hurdles record.
Adeleke took advantage of the ideal sprinting conditions at the Morton Stadium in Santry last Sunday: dry, warm, and with a slight tailwind of 0.7m/s. She seized the opportunity expertly, launching from the starting point and finishing with an impressive 11.13 seconds. Lavin finished behind her with a considerable gap, earning second place with a time of 11.37 seconds.
Adeleke’s Sunday victory not only broke the existing record but served as a valuable confidence booster ahead of her main event, the 400m sprint at the Paris Olympics next month. The champion not only won the race but won over the audience too, jogging back down the track to appreciate their applause.
The champion began the final race two lanes ahead of Lavin in the sixth lane and led from the outset. Adeleke, now only 21, has broken 52 records across all age groups, an unparalleled achievement. Her record-breaking journey began six years ago when she shattered the Irish Youth 200m record with a time of 23.80 seconds back in 2018.
Adeleke has continued to break records in the 60m, 200m, 300m, and 400m categories, both indoors and outdoors. After breaking her 50th record in April over 300m indoors, she went on to better her own Irish 400m record to 49.07 seconds and bagged a silver medal at the European Championships in Rome around three weeks ago.
Adeleke’s coach Edrick Floreal previously confirmed that breaking the Irish 100m record is a feat that she greatly aspires to. Both Adeleke and Lavin had impressive performances in their semi-finals less than three hours prior; Adeleke finished at 11.54 seconds while Lavin won at 11.51.
Lavin just turned 30 and had previously outperformed in last year’s golden sprint double, which led her to shatter Phil Healy’s Irish 100m record, marking it at 11.27 in Switzerland. Moreover, after securing three medals at the European Championships in Rome, with one being silver, Adeleke prepared for the forthcoming Paris Olympics by racing domestically for the first time in two years. The Dublin-based runner opted to concentrate solely on Sunday’s 100m in a bid to boost her speed for the impending major event in Paris.
Lavin returned to the track less than a day after successfully defending her 100m hurdles title, her sixteenth national accolade to date. She set an impressive 12.79 seconds, demolishing the 19-year-old championship record of 12.95 seconds previously set by Derval O’Rourke, despite the pouring Saturday afternoon rain in June.
Notably, Adeleke won her inaugural 100m title in 11.29 seconds three years ago, a performance that, despite the +2.6 m/s wind assistance, stayed as the championship record. She defended the title in 2022, finishing at 11.68 seconds despite being hindered by a -2.6m/s headwind. Lavin performed exceptionally well in the previous year’s 100/100m hurdles, as Adeleke didn’t compete due to injury.
Prior to the most recent competition, the best legal time set by Adeleke was 11.31 in 2021. However, in Texas this past April, she ran a wind-assisted 10.84, leading to her national record, which now stands at 11.13 seconds, a satisfying achievement for the meantime.
In the subsequent race, another athlete from the Tallaght Athletics Club, Israel Olatunde, bagged his seventh national 100m title, clocking a time of 10.27 seconds, breaking the 10.30 barrier for the first time in two years. Another runner, Borin Akinola, finished closely behind at 10.29 seconds.
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