Rhasidat Adeleke, a 21-year-old athlete from Dublin, proficiently made her mark on her first Olympic outing, meeting her anticipated performance level. She managed to qualify for the semi-finals of the Olympic 400 metre race, which will be decided on Wednesday at 7.45pm Irish time, at the State de France after a flawless one-lap run.
On a scorching Parisian Monday morning, Adeleke stormed through her preliminary heat to take first place with a comfortable time of 50.09 seconds. She eased off as she emerged victorious, looking around her, finishing ahead of the second-placed American competitor, Alexis Holmes, who recorded a time of 50.35 seconds.
Adeleke remarked on the experience, describing her race as calm and relaxed. She said she was eager to run having been at the event for a week already. She moderated her pace, especially in the last 100 metres, as she did not want to exert excessive energy but just enough to secure her place in the competition. Although she didn’t specify it, Adeleke felt that her run wasn’t overly strenuous.
In the overall heats, Adeleke was the seventh fastest qualifier. Five competitors who ranked above her managed to clock in under 50 seconds. However, the primary competition among the medal hopefuls was about making it through the rounds with minimal energies expended.
Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker have another opportunity to move forward in the semi-final draws, following the repechage round on Tuesday morning. In her heat, Mawdsley narrowly missed the mark by one position, despite achieving a personal best of 50.01. During last month’s European Championships in Rome, the Irish record of 49.07 held by Adeleke was not surpassed in any of the six heats. She managed to clear the 200m mark in 23.40, quicker than her final in Rome. Adeleke is anticipated to start aggressively once again on Wednesday evening.
Edrick Floréal, her coach, had advised her to pace herself and save her energy. There were two more rounds to go, and she was advised to shut down as soon as she could, to which she complied. There was only one moment of stress when Nicole Caicedo from Ecuador was disqualified due to a false start after the first starting gun.
Adeleke, who was making her Olympic debut, expressed that she had been preparing for the event for a long time, so it was sometimes difficult for her to fully grasp the importance of the moment. However, her aim was not just to participate in the Olympics but to achieve something extraordinary.
The first three athletes from each heat qualified automatically for the semi-finals. All others entered the repechage rounds on Tuesday morning. Only the winners advanced, along with the two fastest runners-up. Mawdsley, having just failed to make the semi-finals by a slim margin, is anticipated to have a strong chance. She ran a new personal best by .01 in her heat, clocking 50.71 and finishing fourth. The heat was won in 49.42 by Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic, 2023 world champion, and the fastest qualifier.
Mawdsley expressed disappointment, especially as she narrowly missed third place to Susanne Gogl-Walli of Austria. Gogl-Walli is also believed to have denied the Tipperary athlete a place in the World Indoors final in March, alleging that she had obstructed her.
In spite of setting a personal best, which stands as a benchmark for the upcoming World Championship, the runner failed to progress to the semi-finals. However, their spirits remained optimistic, stating that they genuinely committed to this performance. The inconvenience of being in a particular heat which didn’t allow for automatic qualification was acknowledged. Nonetheless, their love for running serves as motivation to enter into another round for a shot at the semi-final.
Drawing heat one alongside the likes of Salwa Eid Naser, the 2019 world champion from Bahrain, Becker finished sixth with a timing of 51.84, while Naser emerged victorious as anticipated. Naser set an early precedent for others by running the first sub-50 timing of the heats with a record of 49.91.
Nickisha Pryce, the 23-year-old Jamaican sprinter who set a new national record of 48.57 at the most recent Diamond League meeting in London, marked the fastest timing worldwide this year. Notably, she clinched her heat at 50.02.
In the third heat, Britain’s own Amber Anning proved to be impressive, overthrowing the Dutch runner Lieke Klaver by taking the win with a recording of 49.68 against Klaver’s 49.96. Heat four saw another sub-50 timing courtesy of Europe’s champion from Poland, Natalia Kaczmarek who clocked in at 49.98.
As suspected, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, the two-time defending champion from the Bahamas, succumbed to injury in heat four. Despite this, she managed to complete the race. As a result, come Friday night, there will be a newly crowned Olympic champion in this event for the first time since 2012.