Can Rhasidat Adeleke finally record her first win against Paulino and Eid Naser in Brussels?

Ireland’s 400m record holder, Rhasidat Adeleke will get the final chance this year to record her first victory against reigning Olympic champion, Marileidy Paulino and Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser when she files out for the 400m event at the Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium on Friday.

Adeleke, 22, was denied the chance of becoming the first Irish athlete to mount the Olympic podium in the women’s 400m at the Olympics last month in Paris as she finished fourth behind Paulino, Eid Naser and the absent Polish woman, Natalia Kaczmarek who had also denied her the opportunity to be crowned European champion in the event two month earlier.

She however still made history as the first Irish woman to run in the final of the event.

Adeleke has raised expectations of a potential champion at the global level in the event and some thought she was ripe to fulfil those expectations in Paris.

This, the athlete acknowledged in an Instagram post after the race.

‘A difficult 4th place in the 400m. Fell short of what I was truly capable of but I’m grateful for the ability to continuously pursue my dreams.
I became an Olympian and the first Irish woman to make an Olympic sprint final,’ she wrote.

She now has a chance to get a statement win at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels on Friday evening as she looks forward to her third World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan next year.

Victory on Friday night in front of 70,000 spectators will be her first against Paulino and Eid Naser in eight head-to-head clashes.

The Irish star lost all five head-to-head races against Paulino including both the 400m final at the World Championships in Budapest last year and the Olympics this year.

She has lost in all three encounters against Eid Naser this year with two coming at the Paris Olympics and the third at the Silesia Diamond League meeting in Poland.

Victory will also mean she becomes the first Irish athlete to win the 400m title since the Diamond League began in 2010.

Adeleke will also need to run inside 49 seconds and the fast track at the King Baudouin Stadium and the predicted fine weather should aid her as she begins her journey into fulfilling her potential and race to the top of the world.