Olympics 24: Rhasidat cruises into 400m semis at Paris Olympics

Tallaght sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke made her Olympic debut on Monday by winning her 400m heat to advance directly to Wednesday’s semi-finals.

The 21-year-old, who is a member of Tallaght Athletic Club, produced a mature performance to take a comfortable victory in the final heat of the event clocking 50.09 seconds.

Adeleke had the luxury of being able to ease down towards the line, beginning to look around her shoulder with around 60m to go, before the finish ahead of the field.

Speaking afterwards Adeleke was pleased with how she performed: “I feel like my first 200m was pretty calm. I didn’t go too aggressive.

“I went out at the right pace and I just kind of shut down in the last 100m. I didn’t want to use too much energy. I just wanted to do what I needed to do to qualify. It didn’t feel like a really hard run.”

She also reacted to the feeling of finally becoming an Olympian: “Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend what it really is because I guess I’ve been building up to this for so long. And sometimes it’s expected as a given and the way I am, I’m not happy to participate, I want to achieve my goals.

My goal wasn’t just to come to the Olympics, my goal was to do something special. And that’s what my goal will remain.”

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