Rhasidat Adeleke finishes sixth after below-par performance at Stockholm Diamond League

BELOW-PAR: Rhasidat Adeleke turned in a below-par performance to finish sixth over 400m at the Stockholm Diamond League. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.

Rhasidat Adeleke turned in a below-par performance to finish sixth over 400m at the Stockholm Diamond League on Sunday evening, the 22-year-old Dubliner clocking 50.48 seconds.

The field included three of her rivals from last year’s Olympic final, but it was a newcomer to the professional scene, USA’s Isabella Whittaker, who backed up her win at the Oslo Diamond League three days earlier, taking victory in 49.78. Next in was Norway’s Henriette Jaeger in 50.07, with Britain’s Amber Anning third in 50.17.

On Thursday, Adeleke had finished fourth in Oslo in 50.42, her first 400m race since last September. Her Irish record is the 49.07 she ran to win European silver in Rome last year.

She got off to a solid start in Stockholm and was in contention for victory as the field turned for home, but once again she tied up down the home straight and simply didn’t have the legs to go with the leaders.

Adeleke and her coach Edrick Floreal have taken a different approach to the 2025 season, given the late date of the Tokyo World Championships in September, which are still 13 weeks away.

She bypassed the indoor campaign and has put an emphasis on over-distance work in training as she looks to build a foundation for later in the year.

Meanwhile, Swedish superstar Mondo Duplantis thrilled the home crowd in the men’s pole vault, soaring over a world record of 6.28m. It was his 12th time rewriting the world record, and his first of this year’s outdoor season.