Expectations high for Irish athletes at the European Championships
HIGH EXPECTATIONS: Rhasidat Adeleke and Sharlene Mawdsley have the beating of any female duo in Europe, but how they’re backed up in each race will prove critical. They produced a spectacular showing at the World Relays in The Bahamas last month, joining Thomas Barr and Cillín Greene to obliterate the Irish mixed 4x400m record and win bronze. Pic: Erik van Leeuwen/Sportsfile
It takes a special athlete to win gold at the European Championships, and for all the Irish greats who’ve tried over the past 90 years, that roll of honour is remarkably short. Sonia O’Sullivan. That’s it.
But over the next six days at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, that could change. Rarely has an Irish team gone to the Europeans wielding such firepower. In truth, winning one or two medals would be an underperformance for this team. Three are expected. Four is realistic. Five? It’s possible.
Ireland’s best return from the Europeans came in 1998 in Budapest, O’Sullivan winning the 5,000m and 10,000m with Mark Caroll taking bronze over 5,000m. But in Rhasidat Adeleke and Ciara Mageean, they have two athletes who will stand on the start line for their events as the women to beat.
There’s a raft of other contenders, from two-time 800m medallist Mark English to Thomas Barr, who won bronze in the 400m hurdles in 2018. There’s Sarah Lavin in the 100m hurdles, Sarah Healy and Andrew Coscoran in the 1500m, Sharlene Mawdsley in the 400m. Then there are the relays, with strong chances in the mixed 4x400m and women’s 4x400m.
Adeleke and Mawdsley have the beating of any female duo in Europe, but how they’re backed up in each race will prove critical. They produced a spectacular showing at the World Relays in The Bahamas last month, joining Barr and Cillín Greene to obliterate the Irish mixed 4x400m record and win bronze.
Just ahead of them that night were the Netherlands, anchored by world 400m hurdles champion Femke Bol, who had an almighty duel with Mawdsley down the home straight, edging her to silver. In tonight’s mixed 4x400m final, we could see a similar denouement, this time for gold, with Mawdsley out front and Bol hunting her down.
Chris O’Donnell will run the opening leg in place of Greene, who’s bypassing the Europeans to focus on Olympic preparations, and he’ll hand over to Adeleke, who unleashed an astonishing split of 48.45 at the World Relays. The Dubliner has yet to run an open 400m this season, withdrawing from a planned race in Jamaica last weekend. But no longer can the 21-year-old creep onto a stage like this under the radar. She’s a marked woman now. The cameras will follow her every move. Ability like hers makes that inevitable.
Eight weeks out from the Olympics, this is the perfect way to prepare for what lies ahead in Paris. A massive, Colosseum-like cauldron. Huge crowds. Public expectation. A nation might not be holding its breath just yet, but plenty across Ireland will tune in on Monday night, hoping she can win gold in the 400m final.
While still a teenager in 2022, Adeleke finished ninth in the world over 400m and fifth in the European final. Last year, she was fourth in the world 400m final. Her first individual senior medal for Ireland is now within reach. She just has to grab it. So yes, the pressure is mounting, but few look better built to cope with it.
As her coach, Edrick Floreal, told me late last year. “She walks into the track and if there's 65 cameras, her hair is done, the lashes are done, she's walking in there like she's on cloud nine and it's like, this is her area. It's like a lioness walking tall through brown wheat and their fur fit into it so they have this natural camouflage. This is her element.”
For Ciara Mageean, this is also her element, the 1500m offering up a golden chance for the 32-year-old. She and Sarah Healy are the first of the Irish in action this morning and should have little trouble advancing to Sunday’s final.
But the big focus for those in green today is that mixed relay final, at 9.20pm Irish time. It’s a chance for Barr to become a two-time European medallist and for Adeleke, Mawdsley and O’Donnell to join a very exclusive club in Irish athletics. Sonia is all alone in that pantheon for now. But maybe not for long.
Ireland sends a formidable quartet into action for this straight final, with the Dutch looking the team to beat. A medal of any kind would be a good start, but gold is within reach.
Once they advance from today’s heats, Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy will both fancy their chances in Sunday’s final as two of the five athletes in the field to have broken four minutes. Positioning and closing speed will be key.
As a top-12-ranked athlete, Rhasidat Adeleke will get a bye into Sunday’s 400m semi-finals and she should have little trouble coasting into Monday’s final, where Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek will be the big danger.
Ciara Mageean, women’s 1500m heats, 10.45am
Sarah Healy, women’s 1500m heats 10.58am
Mark English, men’s 800m heats, 11.29am
Michelle Finn, women’s 3000m steeplechase heats, 12.05pm
Eric Favors, men’s shot put qualification, 6.55pm
Israel Olatunde, men’s 100m heats, 8.18pm
Mixed 4x400m relay final, 9.20pm
Jodie McCann, women’s 5000m final, 9.40pm
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