A first step into the Olympic arena for Rhasidat Adeleke, and with a perfectly smooth one-lap run inside the State de France the Dublin sprinter cruised into the semi-finals of the women’s 400 metres.
Visibly easing up as the line approached, Adeleke took the win in 50.09, ahead of Alexis Holmes from the USA who was second in 50.35.
It was just after 12.30pm local time when Adeleke appeared for the sixth and last heat, and drawn in lane six, she ran a terrific opening 200m to put her well clear of the rest, and with that her job was done for the day.
The only nervous moment came just after the gun, a false start for Nicole Caicedo resulting in her disqualification.
Adeleke’s Irish record of 49.07, set when winning silver at the European Championships in Rome last month, wasn’t bettered in any of the six heats. Her time ranked seventh fastest overall.
“That felt really calm and relaxed,” Adeleke said. “I was really excited to get out there. I’ve been here for a week so I was kind of itching to run but it felt amazing, felt really calm and I’m really excited for the next round
“I went out at the right pace, I just kind of shut down the last 100m, I didn’t want to use too much energy, just wanted to do what I needed to qualify, so I don’t know exactly what percentage but it didn’t feel like a really hard run.
“The track felt really good even when I was doing my pre-meet, the last couple of days I felt really good. I was really excited because the track is purple, and my favourite colour is purple. I was just like, yeah ‘let’s go out there, it’s something new’. My first Olympics so it’s all a new experience and I’m taking it [in] every step of the way.”
Adeleke admitted she stepped off the gas once her qualification was secure, as the 21-year-old agreed in advance with her coach.
“Yeah I just wanted to see where I could relax, shut down. That’s what my coach [Edrick Floreal] 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.”
On making her Olympic debut, she added; “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.”
The first three in each heat go straight into Wednesday night’s semi-finals (8.45pm Irish time), all the rest into the new repechage round on Tuesday morning (10.20am Irish time).
For the first time in Olympic history, Ireland had the full individual quota of three women in the 400m – Sharlene Mawdsley just missing out on a semi-final, running a new personal best of 50.71 to finish fourth in her heat.
Sophie Becker was drawn in heat one with the likes of 2019 World champion Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain for company. Naser took the win as expected, laying down an early marker with the first sub-50 clocking of the heats, running 49.91.
Naser has a best of 48.14 from winning that title in 2019, but hasn’t yet come near that time since returning from a doping ban. Becker was sixth in 51.84.
Mawdsley was then out in heat five, which included also the 2023 World champion Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic. Paulino looked super impressive when winning in 49.42, the fastest qualifier, with Mawdsley falling just short of that semi-final spot.
At the last Diamond League meeting in London, 23-year-old Nickisha Pryce from Jamaica won in a new national record of 48.57, the fastest time in the world this year, and she cruised through the second heat here, winning in 50.02, ahead of Britain’s Laviai Nielson, who clocked 50.52
In the third heat, Britain’s Amber Anning looked impressive when taking the win in 49.68, ahead of Lieke Klaver, the Dutch woman clocking 49.96, having already won a gold medal with their 4x400m mixed relay on Saturday night.
Heat four produced another sub-50 clocking, won by Poland’s European champion Natalia Kaczmarek in 49.98.
There were reports that two-time defending champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo from the Bahamas withdrew last month with injury, but she also appeared in heat four, pulling up with 150m to go and clearly off her best. So there will be a new Olympic champion in this event for the first time since 2012.
The semi-finals will present a serious step up, given Friday’s final lane draws will also be at stake.
