Rhasidat Adeleke broke Joanne Cuddihy’s long standing Irish 400m record last night in the United States.
Adeleke, who is still just 19 years old, now holds the Irish records over 60m (Indoors), 200m, and 400m.
Adeleke clocked a time of 50.70s which eclipses Cuddihy’s 50.73s which the Kilkenny native ran in the World Championships semi-final in Osaka, Japan back in 2007.
Last nights result is yet another giant step forward in Adeleke’s career. The Tallaght AC athlete is currently studying economics at Texas University who she was representing last night.
The race took place at the Big 12 Champs at the Terry & Linda Fuller Track and Field Complex in Lubbock, Texas.
Adeleke’s time was good enough for 3rd place in an ultra-competitive race with fellow Texas University athletes Shelly Ann Williams of Jamaica (50.21s) and Kennedy Simon of the US (50.68s) finishing first and second respectively. Williams represented Jamaica in the Tokyo Olympics in the 4x400m Mixed Relay.
Adeleke has now the 7th fastest time in the world over the distance this year and while it is still early in the season it certainly bodes well for what is to come.
The double European U20 champion over 100m and 200m is likely to be faced with a couple of difficult decisions this summer if she continues to excel over the three sprint events. The World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July and European Championships in Munich in August are likely to her main targets.
Just last month Adeleke lowered her National Record over 200m to 22.59s, taking three tenths of a second off her previous Outdoor best of 22.90s, which she set when winning the 200m at the European U20 Championships in Tallin, Estonia last summer.
Last nights performance also came a year to the day since she set her 100m Personal Best of 11.31s, which is the National U23 record for the distance when also competing at the Big 12 Champs. Phil Healy holds the record in the event with 11.28s.
The 100m is now the only National Record in an individual sprint event that Adeleke doesn’t hold underlining her talent at such a young age. Having ran 7.17s for 60m already this year it is likely she has a fast 100m time in her when she races next over the distance.
When that comes it will certainly be worth keeping an eye on as will any race the talented 19-year-old Dubliner runs this summer and for many years to come.
