Rhasidat Adeleke: 'I try to block out all the external noise and focus on myself'

Rhasidat Adeleke has come into this championship with a level of expectation and exposure not seen for an Irish athlete since Sonia O’Sullivan, 20-plus years ago.

ALL EYES ON ADELEKE: Rhasidat Adeleke's recent form has catapulted her into the limelight. Pic:  Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

There are many ways to chart the change in the life of Rhasidat Adeleke, but at the World Championships in Budapest yesterday, perhaps the best was to measure the time it took the 20-year-old to wind her way through the mixed zone.

After coasting to victory in her 400m heat in 50.80 seconds, the Tallaght sprinter made her way into the snaking maze under the stand to greet the world’s media. It was close to an hour before she got out the other side. She’d been to the World Championships last year, but this time was different. Now everyone wanted a piece of her.

One of those was a journalist from NBC, the US Olympic broadcaster which is building its database on those likely to star at the Paris Games next year. Adeleke is firmly on their radar. The Dubliner smiled as she explained adjusting to life at the University of Texas and the level of homesickness she felt in her first year. 

“I really missed my family and my friends,” she said. “Back home in Ireland, we have a bit of banter that I feel like people there don’t understand. I’d make jokes and people are like, ‘huh?’”

Then came a key question, one that has huge relevance to events in Budapest this week. What’s the biggest challenge you face in life? Adeleke thought for a moment. “Probably my fear of failure. I have a really big fear of failure and I just always want to achieve my goals. I set myself to a very high standard.” 

Adeleke has come into this championship with a level of expectation and exposure not seen for an Irish athlete since Sonia O’Sullivan, 20-plus years ago. Next week is her birthday. She will turn 21. But in her brief, dazzling career to date, she’s shown a remarkable ability to home in on the task at hand. 

“Honestly, I have a lot of expectation on myself, so it’s not new,” she said. “I try to block out all the external noise and focus on myself. I can’t control what anyone else does or what anyone else thinks.” 

In yesterday’s heat, she ran well within herself through the opening half before shifting steadily through the gears on the final turn, reeling in and then running away from longtime leader Helena Ponette of Belgium.

Adeleke walked off the track with her mouth closed, the sign of an athlete running fully under control, not gasping for air like her rivals. Her time was the slowest of all six heat winners, though this was never about the clock, only about surviving and advancing with utmost ease. That she did.

“That was one of the easiest 50.8s I’ve ran – it felt really good, really controlled,” she said. Adeleke said she “fell asleep” during the opening 200m, “then coming around the bend I was like, ‘where am I?’ Then I started picking them up.” 

She will return to the track at 8.12pm tonight for the semi-final, where a top-two finish is needed to ensure a place in Wednesday’s final. “Having an evening race is much better,” she said. “I had to get up so early and I didn’t really get any sleep the last couple of nights.” 

The race came 10 weeks after Adeleke claimed the NCAA 400m title in 49.20, and four weeks after her last outing in Monaco, where she was below her best with 49.99. How have things gone since? 

“It’s been hectic, we’re at that point of the season there’s a lot of fatigue, my body has had some niggles I needed to get right before coming out here.” Her goal in Budapest? “To give it my all,” she said.

Her medal chance looks stronger than ever after a shock exit in the heats by Britton Wilson, the US star who was second fastest in the field. Meanwhile, gold medal favourite Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic led the way with a comfortable 49.90, and she will line up in lane seven, two lanes outside Adeleke, in tonight’s semi-final. This is the acid test, the time she’ll truly find out where she stands.

Meanwhile, Sharlene Mawdsley shook off the fatigue of two rounds of the mixed relay to join Adeleke in the semi-finals, the Newport sprinter smashing her PB and finishing fourth in her heat in 51.17. She turned in two superb anchor legs on Saturday to help the Irish team to sixth in the world final, splitting 50.14 and 50.02.

“I really can’t believe what I just produced after yesterday, but I just believed in myself,” she said.