Adeleke gets perfect chance in Silesia to follow O’Sullivan’s advice and bounce back from Paris Olympics disappointment
One of Ireland’s biggest track and field stars, Sonia O’Sullivan wants Rhasidat Adeleke to follow her example after her Barcelona Olympics misadventure in 1992 by getting back out on the track and competing against her rivals as soon as possible.
O’Sullivan lost an Olympic medal from a winning position in 1992 and the 1995 World 5000m champion feels Adeleke has gone through the same experience following her fourth-place finish in Paris at the Olympics early this month.
O’Sullivan wrote in the Irish Times she made a decision she will want Adeleke to follow.
‘I also decided I wanted to race the three medal winners in front of me as soon as possible. So, I raced plenty more times before the season was finished, and did beat all three,’ she wrote and Adeleke looks to have taken it in as she will be in action on Sunday in Poland.
The 21-year-old will get the perfect opportunity to bounce back from the disappointment of not winning a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics when she files out for the 400m event at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Silesia, the 12th leg of the 2024 Wanda Diamond League meetings.
Adeleke will race against all three medalists in Paris viz Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic who won the gold, Nigeria-born Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain who won the silver and Pole, Natalia Kaczmarek who not only won the bronze medal but also denied the Irish runner the gold at the European Championships in June.
The Pole also holds a 5-0 record against Adeleke in head-to-head clashes over the distance and the Irish knows she needs to start winning against the big girls of the event ahead of the 2025 World championships in Tokyo, Japan and the 2028 Olympic in Los Angeles, USA.
Adeleke has also lost in all four meetings with Paulino and twice against Eid Naser.
In addition to this, the Irish star, who holds a 49.07 lifetime best, knows she will have to break 49 seconds this year over the distance to be in the league of sub-49 seconds runners and the event in Silesia offers her that big opportunity to do so.
