Adeleke charges into tonight’s European 200m Final after blistering semi‑final Run

Rhasidat Adeleke takes part in the 200m final of the European Athletics Championships tonight after putting in an extremely impressive performance in yesterday’s semi final.

She achieved a season’s best in the semi final with a time of 22.43, just less than .1 of a second below her all time best of 22.34

The result was a welcome return to form for Adeleke who has struggled in the last year or so.

She spoke after the race highlighting the change in mindset and attitude towards athletics.

“I think when things aren’t going well, you completely forget who you are,” she said. “I completely forgot who I was, forgot the things that I could do, and I think I let the internal pressure consume me.

“I just said I’m taking things back to basics. I’m gonna have fun.

‘I’m gonna do the work, do everything I can and outside of that, I can’t control that. So that’s really been my mindset the last couple of weeks.”

“It’s not that my standards have changed, my perspective has changed,” she said.

“So I’m enjoying the moments that I used to dream about when I was a young girl, being at Europeans, making a European final, winning my semi-final.”

“It was a great reminder right before the start that I can do great things.

‘These people flew out, spent their hard-earned money, took time off work to come to support us here. So let’s give them something to cheer about.”

Her best performance since the Paris Olympics in 2024, after being a doubt to even qualify for the European Championships Adeleke now goes into the final with a real chance of winning a medal though she will face stiff competition.

Amy Hunt and Dina Asher Smith are two of the major contenders.

The two British sprinters have impressed so far at the tournament.

Hunt is the odds on favourite to win the gold medal after being the only athlete to run faster than Adeleke in the final with a time of 22.37.

Should she accomplish this she would be a double champion after already receiving a gold in the 100m with a time of 11 seconds.

Asher Smith ran 22.46 in the semi final and has the pedigree behind her. A competitor at international tournaments since 2011, her personal best in the 200m is a blistering 21.88 though that was ran back in 2019.

Adeleke will need to put in another stellar performance should she hope to be in the medal mix.