Rhasidat Adeleke wins Youth Olympic medal for Ireland

Win in the 100m is a sixth underage medal for Irish athletics already this month

Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke on her way to wining the 100m final at the Youth Olympics in Baku. Photo: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke on her way to wining the 100m final at the Youth Olympics in Baku. Photo: Bryan Keane/Inpho

Rhasidat Adeleke produced another undaunted performance to win the 100 metres at the European Youth Olympic Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan, a sixth underage medal for Irish athletics already this month.

The 16 year-old Adeleke, heading into her Leaving Cert year at Presentation Terenure, was a clear winner in a time of 11.70 seconds, with Finland’s Johanna Kylmanen second in 11.89, Adeleke’s gold adding to the gold medal she also won over 200m at the European Under-18 championships last summer in Gyor Hungry.

“This is what I’ve been training for all season, so to win the gold medal, I’m ecstatic,” said Adeleke.

It comes on the back of the silver medal won by Kate O’Connor in the heptathlon in last week’s European Under-20 Championships in Boras, Sweden, where Sarah Healy also won 1,500m silver, and Darragh McElhinney 5,000m bronze, plus a bronze for Nadia Power over 800m and a silver for Eilish Flanagan in the 3,000m steeplechase at the European Under-23 Championships earlier this month.

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The European Youth Olympic Festival is a European event for athletes aged 14-18 that runs every two years. Baku is hosting the 2019 edition which runs from the 21st to 27th July.

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan is an Irish Times sports journalist writing on athletics