Awesome Adeleke smashes Irish 400m record in Texas 

The 20-year-old Dubliner was on fire at the Big 12 Championships in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday.

Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke. Picture: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

By now the only thing more remarkable than Rhasidat Adeleke’s class is the consistency with which she shows it, and at the Big 12 Championships in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday, the 20-year-old Dubliner did it once again – making something very special seem almost routine, obliterating her Irish 400m record with 50.33.

That brought her home well clear of Kennedy Simon, her teammate at the University of Texas, who clocked 51.01 in second. Adeleke’s time was an NCAA record, going below the 50.34 run by Kendall Ellis in 2018, and was the second fastest time in the world this year, behind only the world record of 49.26 run by Femke Bol at the Dutch Championships last week. It moves Adeleke to 13th on the world indoor all-time lists, and makes her the hot favourite for 400m gold at next month’s NCAA Indoor Championships.