All Eyes On Adeleke As Irish Athlete Set To Make Diamond League Debut in Monaco
Reigning NCAA 400m champion and Irish 200m and 400m record holder, Rhasidat Adeleke will be the cynosure of all eyes at the Stade Louis 2 on Friday evening in Monaco where she will be making her debut in World Athletics’ elite one day meeting.
The 20 year old made her professional debut on Wednesday at the Gyulai István Memorial meeting at the Bregyó Athletic Center in Székesfehérvár, Hungary where she defied the odds to finish second in the 200m running event just shy of breaking her own 200m record (22.36).
Adeleke who holds six Irish records and reached the pinnacle of US collegiate athletics with her NCAA win in the 400m outdoors will be seeking to become the first Irish athlete to go under 49 seconds in her Diamond League debut.
She is the first and only Irish athlete to break the 50 seconds barrier in the full lap event and raced to a 49.20 lifetime best to win her NCAA title last month in Austin, Texas.
Born to Nigerian parents, Adeleke will come up against world 400m hurdles champion and record holder, Sydney Maclaughlin-Verone who seems to have settled for the 400m flat this season and has proved to be the fastest (48.74) so far this year and the 10th fastest of all time.
Adeleke will be racing against Maclaughlin-Verone for the first time and will take inspiration from her professional debut where she came second against Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, the reigning world champion and second fastest of all time in the 200m event.
The 20 year old is the second fastest this year behind Maclaughlin-Verone and one of four athletes who have gone inside 50 seconds in the line up at the Herculis in Monaco.
