Adeleke helps Ireland to World Under 20 silver
RHASIDAT Adeleke of Tallaght Athletic Club again medalled on the international stage after she helped the Ireland Women’s 4x100m Relay team to silver at the World Under 20 Athletics Championships in Tampere, Finland.
The recently crowned European Under 18 200m champion was again in superb form when she combined with Molly Scott, Gina Akpe Moses and Patience Jumbo-Gula to win their heat ahead of France and Italy with a time of 44.27 and secure their place in Saturday’s final.
Ireland Women's team Rhasidat Adeleke, Sommer Lecky, Gina Akpe-Moses, Patience Jumbo-Gula, Ciara Neville and Molly Scott
Unfortunately for Adeleke, she suffered a hamstring pull in the course of her semi-final and was unable to contest the final, having to watch from the sidelines as Scott, Akpe-Moses, Ciara Neville and Jumbo-Gula combined to take World silver in a new Irish senior record time of 43.90.
“I was just watching from the sidelines and I was really excited for them because I could see that they were in medal contention” said Adeleke.
“I was like, they’ve got this. I was really happy for them because we’ve worked so hard all year and to see it happen was great” she told The Echo.
Recalling the semi final and the injury she sustained Adeleke continued “I got the baton in third place and I got past the Italian girl ahead of me.
“But 20m before I passed the baton I felt like a cramp, something in my hamstring, but I had to keep going because I had to get the baton to Patience.
“I felt it was like a really bad cramp and it would ease away. I did feel it ease away a bit, but not as much as I wanted.
“The next day I was hoping that it would be gone, but it wasn’t, so it was like, there was no way I could run in the final.
“We went to the hospital and I got an MRI scan. The results hadn’t come back before the final so I didn’t know if I even had a bad injury, but I knew myself I couldn’t run and they said I shouldn’t run just to protect it” she said.
While she will miss out on Schools International competition that would complete her 2018 programme, Adeleke can still look back on an amazing season with a cherished European Under 18 gold and World Under 20 silver.
