Tallaght's Rhasidat Adeleke sets Irish record in European 400m final to finish fifth

Irish athlete Rhasidat Adeleke delivered a stellar run in the final of the women's 400m at the European Championship in Munich last night, finishing fifth and setting a new Irish record.

The Tallaght native overtook her lane neighbour Cynthia Bolingo of Belgium in the beginning, later gaining up to fourth place before being taken over by the UK's Victoria Ohuroguo.

A fifth place finish in a majorly strong category is a big step forward for the teenager, setting a record with a time of 50.53.

💥💥IT'S 5TH IN EUROPE FOR RHASIDAT ADELEKE IN A NEW NATIONAL RECORD💥💥

An astonishing performance from lane 1 in her FIRST senior final!!!🇮🇪

⏱️50.53NR

What a 24 hours for the Irish team in Munich🤯🙌

ℹ️Full result: https://t.co/o3BmG2BLN7#Munich2022 @sportireland pic.twitter.com/GpAl51FAJN

— Athletics Ireland (@irishathletics) August 17, 2022

The gold medal went to Dutch Olympic medalist Femke Bol, who clocked 49.44, while it was silver and bronze for Poland with Natalia Kaczmarek finishing second and Anna Kielbasinksa third.

This race was Adeleke's 49th in a difficult season divided between international races and college outings at the University of Texas, where she attends after earning a scholarship.

Adeleke will also take part in the women's 4x400m relay later in the week.

"I gave it all I had, it wasn't enough for a medal but I got a new national record so I'm happy," she told RTÉ.

"I'm so new to the 400m, when my coach says 'go out in 23', I don't know what that is honestly, so I just out with them. It's my first year doing the 400m, hopefully I'm going to start training for it this fall and let's see what I can next year.

"I wish I just had more in my legs for the last 50m. I was looking at the screen and thought 'oh my god I'm in a medal position' and feel like I shouldn't have done that because it threw me off a bit," Adeleke added.

"Honestly I was really hoping for a medal but I have to consider everything, this is like my 50th race of the season. To come here and break the national record… so many people support us in Ireland and I just want to give them something back. Thank you for supporting me and thank you for rooting for me."

Meanwhile, Rhasidat training partner and friend, Israel Olatunde, made history two nights ago.

The Dundalk native made his breakthrough in Munich on Tuesday, making history by becoming the first Irish athlete to qualify for a 100m final at the European Athletics Championships before breaking Paul Hession's 15-year record in a time of 10.17 seconds.

What an fantastic series of runs by @IsraelOlatunde5 at the Europeans. Congrats on the Irish record but more importantly on showing you can mix it with the best when it matters most!

— Paul Hession (@phession) August 17, 2022

Casting an eye towards the future, he said going under 10 seconds was what he will now be striving for.