Adeleke smashes Irish 200m record in Texas

Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland (Photo by Joosep Martinson/Getty Images for European Athletics)

Teenage sprint star Rhasidat Adeleke continued her superb season by smashing the Irish women’s 200m record on Saturday at the Texas dual meet, clocking 22.59.

With an ideal following wind of 2.0 metres per second, the maximum allowed for record purposes, the 19-year-old Dubliner obliterated the 22.85 mark she ran indoors this year, along with the 22.90 she ran to break the record outdoors last summer.

It’s so far been a remarkable year for Adeleke, the European U-20 champion over 100m and 200m who set Irish senior indoor records over 60m (6.17), 200m (22.85) and 300m (36.87) in recent months.

A second-year student at the University of Texas, she is now qualified for this year’s World Championships in Oregon and the Europeans in Munich.

Elsewhere rising race walk star David Kenny turned in a coming-of-age performance at the World Race Walking Tour gold-level event in Podebrady, Czech Republic.

The 23-year-old Farranfore athlete, who won silver at last year’s European U23 Championships, finished third in a world-class field in the 20km event in 1:19:44, taking four minutes off his previous best.

Kenny came home 50 seconds behind Brazil’s Caoi Bonfim and just two seconds behind Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom, the 2019 world bronze medallist who, like Kenny, is coached by Robert Heffernan.

In the US, Eric Favors unleashed the best throw of his career with a 20.14m shot put, which if ratified will break the Irish record of 20.04m, held by Paul Quirke since 1992.

Michael Power clocked a big PB over 5000m in Stanford of 13:29.57, while in Barcelona on Sunday, Tokyo Olympian Aoife Cooke carved four minutes off her personal best to finish fifth in the half marathon, clocking 1:10:58.