- Oyo descent, Rhasidat Adeleke, shows electrifying pace in first round
- The 21-year-old Irish sprinter elated during post-race interview
- Nigerian athletes disappoint in shallow performance
Irish sprinter of Nigerian descent, Rhasidat Adeleke, comfortably won her 400m heat to ease into Wednesday's semi-finals at the Olympic Games in Paris, clocking 50.09 in her 400m heat.
Adeleke was so fast that she confidently strolled through the final 30 metres of the race, even at that, no other athlete was able to beat her to it.
Adeleke strolls to win in women’s 400m race
Adeleke born to Nigerian Parents in Dublin, Ireland, became the first Irish woman to break the 50-second mark in the 400 meters.
She possesses seven Irish national records in different events: 60 meters indoors, 100 meters outdoors, 200 meters both indoors and outdoors, 300 meters indoors, and 400 meters both indoors and outdoors. Moreover, she played a key role in setting two more national records in relay events: the women’s 4 × 400 meters and the mixed 4 × 400 meters relays.
Adeleke, 21, led comfortably going into the final 30 meters of the heat 6 race, where she leisurely jogged to cross the finish line in 50.09 seconds, outpacing America’s Holmes who came closest in second at 50.35 seconds and Jamaica’s Bromfield in third position who ended the race at 51.36 seconds.
After placing second at the European Championships in June and fourth at last year’s World Championships, Adeleke is currently ranked as the third fastest in the 400m events this season.
Sprinter Adeleke elated in post-race interview
Fresh off an exciting race, the 21-year-old shared her excitement in an interview after the race. In her words:
“I just kind of shut down the last 100, I didn’t want to use too much energy,” said Adeleke.
“I just wanted to do what I needed to qualify, so I don’t know exactly what percentage [effort] but it didn’t feel like a really hard run.
“That’s what my coach told me to do: as soon as you can shut down, shut down. We have two more rounds, so, well hopefully we’ll be looking forward to that.
"It felt so good, it was so fun," Adeleke said after her heat win. "I have been here for a week now and I've been itching to go the last three days," she said.
Adeleke will represent Ireland at the semifinal on Wednesday evening.
Heartbreaking performance from Nigerian women athletes
In a disappointing turn of events, Nigerian women athletes, Onojuvwevwo and Elo-Joseph faced a challenging day that left fans and supporters disheartened in the 400 metre race. Both athletes competed in heat 3 and heat 4 respectively.
Ella Onojuvwevwo and Esther Elo-Joseph will be back for the Repechage rounds on Tuesday, with hopes of reaching the semifinals. Onojuvwevwo ended up sixth in heat 3 of the women’s 400m, and Elo-Joseph was seventh in her respective heat.
Paris Olympics 2024: Noah Lyles triumphs in the strictest of 100-metre races
Previously, TheRadar reported that America's 20-year wait for Olympic gold in the 100-metre race is now over as Noah Lyles brings back glory days for the powerful nation since the Athens 2004 Olympics.
Lyles finished first with a very tight margin, outpacing Kishane Thompson of Jamaica and his American compatriot, Fred Kerley. In a dramatic turn of events, it looked pretty clear at the beginning that Thompson was going to emerge the winner until Lyles overtook him at the last second by a few milliseconds.
