Adeleke narrowly misses out on Rising Star prize

Tallaght’s Rhasidat Adeleke lost out to Femke Bol of the Netherlands in the Women’s Rising Star category at the European Athletics Golden Tracks awards earlier this evening.

Shortlisted alongside Bol and Keely Hodgkinson (Great Britain), she was recognised for her superb performances throughout 2021.

While she may not have garnered this prestigious accolade on the night, the quality of her rivals for the position speaks volumes about the level of Adeleke’s progression over the past 12 months.

Not only did Bol compete at the much-delayed Tokyo Olympics, but she came away with a bronze medal in the 400 metres hurdles.

Despite being just 21 years of age, the Dutch athlete also claimed a brace of golds at the European Indoor Championships and the Diamond League during this calendar year.

19-year-old Hodgkinson also reached the podium in the Japanese capital, winning Olympic silver in the 800 metres.

Considering Adeleke didn’t compete in Tokyo, it says a lot about her standing outside of Ireland that she was nominated in unison with two competitors that shone so brightly on the biggest stage of all.

The former Presentation College Terenure student only turned 19 in August, but already made waves before reaching that age.

In the Estonian capital of Tallinn just a month earlier, she was a double gold medal winner at the European U20 Athletics Championships.

aving come out on top in the 100 metres final, she repeated this success in the 200 metres race.

Registering an outstanding time of 22.90 in the latter, she comfortable  saw off the challenges posed by Minke Bisschops (Netherlands) and Success Eduan (Great Britain) – who came home at 23.55 and 23.62 respectively.

In achieving success on two fronts in Tallinn, she became the first athlete since Jodie Williams a decade earlier to win a 100m/200m double at the European U20 Championships.

This replicated her first place finishes in the same events at the European Youth Olympics Festival in Baku two years ago.

She also includes a European U18 200 metres gold medal from 2018 amongst her list accolades.

Now based at the University of Texas in America, the future is bright for the Tallaght Athletics Club ace.

If she can continue on her current career trajectory, she may well be up for individual prizes again in the future.