Adeleke 'working on something different' as she finishes fourth in first 400m of the year

UP AND RUNNING: Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke after finishing fourth in her first 400m of the year as she is working on something different with her coach. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

With three months left until the World Championships in Tokyo, Rhasidat Adeleke was always unlikely to shoot the lights out in her first 400m race of the year. And so it proved at the Oslo Diamond League on Thursday evening, the Dubliner clocking 50.42 to finish fourth, well down on her Irish record of 49.07.

It was Adeleke’s first race at her specialist distance since last September, having raced over 200m earlier this season along with a couple of 4x400m legs at last month’s World Relays in China. Drawn in lane six, she got off to a steady start but began to move through the field after halfway, challenging for second as she came off the final bend.

But as it was in some key races last year, Adeleke tied up slightly over the final 50 metres, fading to fourth, with USA’s Isabella Whittaker taking victory in 49.58 ahead of Norway’s Henriette Jaeger (49.62) and Britain’s Amber Anning (50.24). Dutch athlete Lieke Klaver was just behind Adeleke in 50.64, with Olympic bronze medallist and European champion Natalia Bukowiecka sixth in 50.67.

“It’s my first 400, I’m trying to adjust in terms of that,” said Adeleke. “Me and my coach have been working on something different so we’re just trying to get going, get the season going. The main goal is September so we’re working towards that.

Adeleke will be back in action over 400m at the Stockholm Diamond League on Sunday. “I’ll build on this race,” she said. “Each race I’m building up to make it to where I need to be.” 

Mark English was also in action in Oslo, the 32-year-old coming home seventh in the 800m, clocking 1:44.33. English, who broke the Irish 800m record on Monday night with 1:43.92 in Hengelo, was on track shortly after for a loaded 800m race that featured four Olympic finalists, and two medallists, from the Paris Games. He kept contact with the field for much of the race but didn’t have the gears to go with the world’s best over the last 200m, the Donegal athlete finishing seventh in the second fastest time of his career, 1:44.33. The race was won by Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya in 1:42.78.

“I would have liked a bit quicker,” said English. “But it’s a lot of races in a short space of time so that’s probably the reason I wasn’t able to run 1:43 today. It’s hard to do it in every race.” 

Meanwhile Grand Slam Track, the upstart league co-founded by Michael Johnson, has cancelled its fourth and final meeting of the 2025 season. Johnson called an emergency meeting with athletes and managers on Thursday night to inform them that the final event in Los Angeles on 28-29 June will not go ahead.

It’s understood the chief reason for the cancellation is financial, with organisers keen to avoid further losses after the league struggled to attract big attendances and TV viewing figures for its first three events. Its inaugural meeting in Kingston, Jamaica played out in front of mostly empty stands, while things improved at the second meeting in Miami and were better again at the third meeting in Philadelphia, where around 30,000 tickets were sold across the two-day event.

Organisers plan to return for a second season in 2026 and are expected to announce new investors and partners in the coming weeks. Grand Slam Track said it would award over $12 million in prize money during its first season, with Johnson securing $30 million in investment to get the league off the ground. First-placed prize money stood at $100,000 in each category, with $50,000 for second and $10,000 for eighth.

Andrew Coscoran and Sharlene Mawdsley both featured in its first season, with Coscoran earning $50,000 for his runner-up finish in the long-distance category in Miami and $12,500 for his fourth-place finish over 3000m in Philadelphia. Mawdsley earned $15,000 for her sixth-place finish in the long sprints category at the latter event.

Elsewhere, Athletics Ireland has announced a 46-strong Irish team for the European Athletics Team Championships, which take place in Maribor, Slovenia on 28-29 June. Ireland will contest the second division against 15 other nations, with the top three teams promoted to the first division and the bottom three relegated. Mawdsley is among the star names on the team alongside fellow Olympians such as Sarah Lavin, Sophie Becker, Cillín Greene, Brian Fay, Eric Favors, Sophie O’Sullivan and Nicola Tuthill.

Irish Team: European Team Championships 

Women: Lucy-May Sleeman (100m, 4x100m), Lauren Roy (200m, 4x100m), Sophie Becker (400m, mixed 4x400m), Sophie O’Sullivan (800m), Laura Nicholson (1500m), Róisín Flanagan (5000m), Sarah Lavin (100m hurdles, 4x100m), Arlene Crossan (400m hurdles, mixed 4x400m), Ava O’Connor (3000m steeplechase), Elizabeth Ndudi (long jump), Saragh Buggy (triple jump), Aoife O’Sullivan (high jump), Clodagh Walsh (pole vault), Michaela Walsh (shot put), Niamh Fogarty (discus), Nicola Tuthill (discus), Grace Casey (javelin), Ciara Neville (4x100m), Sarah Leahy (4x100m), Aisling Kelly (4x100m reserve), Sharlene Mawdsley (mixed 4x400m), Cliodhna Manning (mixed 4x400m), Rachel McCann (mixed 4x400m reserve).

Men: Bori Akinola (100m, 4x100m), Andrew Egan (200m, 4x100m), Cillín Greene (400m, mixed 4x400m), Cian McPhillips (800m), Shane Bracken (1500m), Brian Fay (5000m), Adam Nolan (110m hurdles), Fintan Dewhirst (400m hurdles), Finley Daly (3000m steeplechase), Shane Howard (long jump), Michael Alajiki (triple jump), David Cussen (high jump), Conor Callinan (pole vault), Eric Favors (shot put), Eoin Sheridan (discus), Sean Mockler (hammer), Conor Cusack (javelin), Michael Farrelly (4x100m), Sean Aigboboh (4x100m), Marcus Lawler (4x100m), Ciaran Carthy (mixed 4x400m), Calllum Baird (mixed 4x400m).