Adeleke seals first Diamond League final spot despite coming up short once again

Irish 400m record holder (49.07), Rhasidat Adeleke failed the endurance test on Sunday evening and faded away at the home straight after leading for all of 300m in the 400m event at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial, the 12th leg of the 15 leg Wanda Diamond League meeting in Silesia, Poland.

Like it was at the Paris 2024 Olympics, the 21 year old came in fourth behind the trio of who denied her a podium appearance, running 50.00 seconds.

Despite the below par performance, the Irish still sealed a spot in next month’s Diamond League final in Brussels where she will not only get another chance to prove she belongs amongst the big girls of the event but also an opportunity to be crowned the Diamond League champion as well as $30,000 in cash prize.

Adeleke is sixth in the list of seven athletes confirmed for the final with 13 points, same as Salwa Eid Naser who came second in Silesia while Paulino Marileidy tops the standing with the 40 points she got from winning in Xiamen, Suzhou, Oslo, Paris and now Silesia.

The Irish will however be up against an athlete who says she is not tired of winning.

‘This season, I worked really hard for the Olympic Games, but I still want to win every race until the end of this season. I really did not have much time to recover after the Olympics, but the conditions here are good and the crowd is amazing.

‘I am very pleased with setting the meeting record. Before the race, all I could think of was getting through to the finish line and running a decent time. I love this track in Silesia. Now, I am definitelly looking forward to the end of this season so I can start eating a lot of food,’ said Paulino after winning in Silesia.