Rhasidat Adeleke withdraws from Monaco Diamond League after sub-par performance on return

Rhasidat Adeleke has withdrawn from Friday night's Diamond League meeting in Monaco. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile.

Rhasidat Adeleke has withdrawn from Friday night's Diamond League meeting in Monaco, having turned in a sub-par performance on her return to the 400m in Eugene, Oregon last weekend, where the 23-year-old finished ninth in 52.26 seconds.

Adeleke was among the entries for the Herculis Meeting in Monaco this Friday but was removed from the line-up earlier today, replaced by Dutch athlete Lieke Klaver. Adeleke took victory in Monaco in 2024, clocking 49.17.

With just over a fortnight left to secure qualification for next month's European Championships in Birmingham, it leaves the Dubliner's season hanging in the baalnce.

Adeleke has yet to secure the 400m qualifying standard of 51.20 or the 200m standard of 22.85 for the championships in Birmingham, with the qualification window closing on Sunday, July 26, the concluding day of the national championships in Dublin.

Adeleke lined up for her first 400m in 12 months at the Pre Classic in Eugene last weekend but was well below her best, fading back through the field in the home straight.

Her 52.26-second clocking was a long way down on the Irish record of 49.07 she ran to win silver at the Europeans in 2024 and was her slowest 400m since January 2022, when she began to focus more on the event at the age of 19.

In an Instagram post on Sunday, she described the race as "beyond rough", adding: "It is easy to share the wins, but it is hard to be vulnerable – displaying the injuries, bad days and challenges. No excuses or seeking pity, just reality.

“But finally made it to the line. Will keep building from here. I appreciate those that continuously rock with me.” Adeleke has raced sparingly this year. She clocked an Irish indoor best of 36.30 for 300m in February, then ran a leg of a 4x400m relay in Texas in early April before a 200m outing in Texas in late April, when she clocked 22.86.

After a breakthrough 2024 season, in which she won silver at the European Championships in Rome and finished fourth at the Paris Olympics, Adeleke struggled to recapture that same form in 2025 and withdrew from the Tokyo World Championships, telling RTÉ last December that she had “several different injuries, from hamstring to groin to knee” during the year.

Adeleke has been working with coach Edrick Floreal since the start of 2021, when she moved to Austin to enrol at the University of Texas, which she has kept as her base since turning professional in 2023