Olympics 24: All eyes on Rhasidat in Paris

TALLAGHT’S Rhasidat Adeleke will be the first Irish woman to contest an Olympic 400m final tonight at the Stade de France in Paris.

The 21-year-old who is a member of Tallaght Athletics Club takes to the track at 7pm Irish time aiming to be in the mix, but the task ahead will be far from straightforward, with a particularly high calibre field vying for podium places.

Amongst them are reigning world champion and Tokyo silver medallist Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic who won the second semi-final on Wednesday by a distance.

Also featuring are European champion and 2023 world silver medallist Natalia Kaczmarek (Poland), and world bronze medallist Sada Williams (Barbados).

Great Britain’s Amber Anning beat Kaczmarek to the line in the semi looking quite controlled posting a new PB in the process.

Salwa Eid Naser (Bahrain), a former world champion, who won Adeleke’s semi-final last night in a season’s best, and the fastest time of all eight qualifiers, also poses a major threat.

Rhasidat Adeleke in action in Wednesday night’s 400m semi-final at the Paris Olympics

Naser returned this year having served a two year ban from the sport for whereabouts violations.

Adeleke has been drawn in lane four and will have Anning on her right and Norwegian Henriette Jaeger on her inside.

Adeleke said after the semis on Wednesday: “It was very messy, a very messy race. I’m just really excited that I’m able to get into the final, and fix everything for what I need” she said.

“At first he [the starter] held us really long, I think I was ready to go then but when we went again I feel like I was thinking about it too much, and I didn’t execute my first 200m like I should have.

“They are all things we can fix for the final. I think I also panicked a little bit which made me break form really early but no I’m excited. I’ve made the final – now I can give it my best shot.

I’ve been in a place where the round may not have went as I wanted it to, but the final went great so I’m not too worried about it.”

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