Adeleke anchors Ireland to storming Mixed Relay progress at World Championships 

Chris O’Donnell, Sophie Becker, Jack Raftery and Rhasidat Adeleke turned in a sparkling 4x400m performance, finishing second in their heat to secure another global final place 

on her way: Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke in the last leg of the Mixed 4x400m Relay Heats at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon, USA. Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Ireland is through to a global final in the mixed 4x400m relay for the second straight year after Chris O’Donnell, Sophie Becker, Jack Raftery and Rhasidat Adeleke produced a superb second-place finish in their heat at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon today.

The quartet clocked 3:13.88 to finish second behind Dominican Republic and advance as the fifth fastest overall qualifiers for tonight’s final, which takes place at 3.50am Irish time.

Adeleke, in particular, produced a truly astonishing run, the 19-year-old Dubliner clocking 49.80 on the anchor leg to overtake Jamaica in the home straight and take second.

“I was just trying to make sure we were in the top three,” said Adeleke, who has bigger ambitions in tonight’s final. “Just go out and perform and hopefully we can improve on what we did just now. Try out best to hopefully get a medal.” The team was led off by national 400m champion O’Donnell, who clocked 46.33, with Becker clocking 52.36 on the second leg. Raftery produced the performance of his life to elevate the team to third ahead of the final leg, the Donore Harrier clocking the fastest split of the race with 45.37.

“I’m just super proud of the guys, I gave it everything on that first leg,” said O’Donnell. “I told them before: we made the World Relay final, we made the Olympic final and to do it again, it’s a pretty good achievement.” Becker said their performances in the past year have “cemented (Ireland) as a country that’s able to produce when it comes to it.” Raftery, who was competing at his first World Championships, said he was “over the moon to give Rhasidat the baton in the mix” and he, too, believes they can go quicker in tonight’s final. “We’re overachieving here,” he said. “But we still expect more later on.”