Rhasidat Adeleke: 'I just wanted to see where I could relax, shut down'
Round 1 On France Her To Winning On At The Women's Way Out Stade De The David Her Own: Adeleke Fitzgerald/sportsfile Pic: Rhasidat 400m
She’d been building to this moment for years, but in front of packed stands at the Stade de France and on a scorching morning in Paris, Rhasidat Adeleke was ice cool, looking entirely at home in her Olympic debut.
The 21-year-old Dubliner sauntered to victory in her 400m heat, turning in a performance that was as controlled as it was classy, easing down well before the finish to clock a swift 50.09.
“That felt really calm and relaxed,” she said. “I’ve been here for a week so I was kind of itching to run but it felt amazing. I’m really excited for the next round.”
Speed has long been Adeleke’s greatest weapon and here she made sure to utilise it, powering through the first 100m in 12.02 and hitting 200m in 23.40, well ahead of the 23.69 she split in the European final in June. “I feel like my first 200 was pretty calm,” she said. “I didn’t go too aggressive.”
By then, the race was fully within her command, Adeleke having built a lead over chief rival Alexis Holmes of USA.
The Dubliner began looking around halfway down the home straight and had slowed to a relative jog by the time she hit the finish, with Holmes taking second in 50.35 and Jamaica’s Junelle Bromfield third in 51.36.
“I just wanted to see where I could relax, shut down,” she said. “That’s what my coach told me to do: ‘As soon as you can shut down, shut down.’ We have two more rounds so hopefully we’ll be looking forward to that. I didn’t want to use too much energy, just wanted to do what I needed to qualify.”
Adeleke had a nervous moment when the false start recall gun was fired at the start of the race – “I was just like: I hope that wasn’t me” – but she had no such fears, her Olympic campaign getting off to a flyer in the subsequent restart.
And with that step one of three is now complete.
“Sometimes it’s hard to comprehend what (the Olympics) really is because I guess I’ve been building up to this for so long,” she said. “And sometimes it's expected as a given and the way I am. I’m not happy to participate, I want to achieve my goals. My goal wasn’t just to come to the Olympics, my goal was to do something special. And that’s what my goal will remain.”
Adeleke said she “literally cried” watching training partner Julien Alfred win 100m gold on Saturday night, who she’d been training alongside in Monaco before coming to Paris. She said training went “really well” on the build-up and when she entered the village her first reaction was: “Oh my God, I’m really here. This is crazy.”
There was less joy for her Irish teammates Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker, who will both go into the 400m repechage tomorrow after falling short of the automatic top-three qualification in their heats.
Mawdsley was drawn alongside world champion Marileidy Paulino of Dominican Republic, and Paulino looked well within herself as she coasted to victory in 49.42. Mawdsley threw herself into contention with a strong opening half and turned for home in third but surrendered the automatic qualifying spot in the final metres to Susanne Gogl-Walli of Austria, who she’d clashed with at the World Indoors in Glasgow back in March, Mawdsley clocking a lifetime best of 50.71 to finish fourth.
“It’s bittersweet,” she said. “You run a PB, it’s the standard for next year’s Worlds, and you don’t make the semi-final. But I’m happy. I think I really committed to it. I’m really proud of myself for that performance. Had I been in a different heat I would have qualified automatically, which is a bit annoying, but we all know I love running so I have another round tomorrow to try and get into the semi.”
Mawdsley added she and Gogl-Walli “made peace” after her controversial disqualification at the World Indoors in March which occurred following a protest by the Austrian team, who claimed Mawdsley had obstructed Gogl-Walli while overtaking her. “I congratulated her and I said well done, and she thanked me,” said Mawdsley. “So I think that’s water under the bridge now.”
Becker went out strongly in her heat, the Wexford athlete turning for home contending with the leaders and in the hunt for a top-three spot. She faded in the home straight to finish sixth in 51.84, a race won by 2019 world champion Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain in 49.91.
“It’s disappointing,” said Becker. “I was hoping for a good bit faster than that. To make a semi or run a PB or both is obviously what I’d like to do. I’m happy with my first 250m. I ran that really well, I put myself in the mix and then I think I kind of was overthinking a bit going with them. It wasn’t a terrible run, it just wasn’t a run I wanted at the Olympics.”
Nickisha Pryce of Jamaica, the world leader and NCAA champion, coasted into the semi-finals with victory in her heat in 50.02. Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland, who beat Adeleke to gold at the Europeans in Rome, also took a facile win in her heat in 49.98. Britain’s Amber Anning was also ultra impressive in her heat, clocking 49.68 to take victory ahead of Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands (49.96).
The 400m semi-finals will take place on Wednesday night, with the final on Friday. The repechage takes place tomorrow morning, with the first two in each race advancing to the semi-finals.