Full speed ahead for Adeleke as Dubliner targets Silesia and Brussels
Great Britain's Amber Anning (left) finishes fifth and Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke finishes fourth in the Women's 400m Final at the Stade de France on the fourteenth day of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
When it comes to the frustration of fourth place, there’s no better way to put it behind you than to get back on track and go full speed ahead.
Rhasidat Adeleke will do just that in the coming weeks, closing her season with two Diamond League races over 400m in Silesia, Poland on 25 August and at the Diamond League final in Brussels on 13 September.
The top-eight in the overall season standings will qualify for Brussels over 400m and with 10 of the 14 qualifying events complete, Adeleke sits eighth on points, her sole scoring event coming in Monaco last month where she took victory over 400m.
However, a solid run in Silesia will assure her a place in Brussels, where athletes will compete for a first prize of $30,000.
In Silesia, she will take on Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino and bronze medallist Natalia Kaczmarek, the Pole who also edged her to the European title in June.
Kaczmarek has a stellar record in Silesia, setting 400m personal bests there for each of the last three years and she’ll be keen to put on a big display for her home crowd.
However, Adeleke will be looking to get one over on Kaczmarek, who she has yet to defeat in five meetings. Dutch athlete Lieke Klaver is also in the field.
For Adeleke, these last two races will offer a great chance to finish the season on a high before the focus shifts to 2025, where there are many potential medal opportunities from the European and World Indoors in March to the World Championships in Tokyo next September.
It was a huge first Olympics for Adeleke, her 400m final the second-most-watched event by Irish audiences, with just under a million viewers on TV alone.
In the aftermath of the 400m final, she wasn’t keen to look on the bright side about her relative youth. Despite being five to six years younger than the three medallists, all she was concerned about was that a huge chance had slipped through her fingers.
“Some people come here to participate and are just happy to be at the Olympics, their goal is to become an Olympian,” she said. “I knew what I was capable of. I was definitely looking at a podium. I definitely wouldn’t be happy coming fourth and my coach knows I could’ve got on that podium.”
Adeleke said she “panicked” a little and “started to strain” in the home straight.
At the finish, she was left with a familiar feeling, the same fourth place as in last year’s world final. "I was just staring at the screen for a minute, 'Oh my God, no way I came fourth again,’” she said. “I didn’t achieve my dreams today. But in the future, I just hope there are more podiums up there and I’ll be able to perform at my best when it’s most important.”
The journey towards that point starts with a trip to Poland. “It’s over now,” she said in Paris. “I’ve just got to look forward.”
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