Rhasidat Adeleke breaks Irish 400 metre record again at NCAA West Regionals

Running 400 metres in 49.54, Adeleke broke the previous Irish record of 49.90 she set in Florida last month

Rhasidat Adeleke photographed in 2022. She previously set an Irish 400 metre record in Florida in April. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho
Rhasidat Adeleke photographed in 2022. She previously set an Irish 400 metre record in Florida in April. Photograph: Tom Maher/Inpho

The record-breaking spree continues, Rhasidat Adeleke once again breaking an Irish record of her own, smashing her own Irish 400 metres record at the NCAA West Regionals in Sacramento, California on Saturday night.

Adeleke finished in a stunning time of 49.54, taking down the 49.90 she ran in Florida last month, and with that the 20 year-old becoming the first Irish woman to break 50 seconds.

Rhasidat Adeleke: ‘I just want to work harder, run faster, that’s what drives me on’Opens in new window ]

A third-year student at the University of Texas, it’s the sixth Irish record of the year for Adeleke this year – a time of 49.54 that would have placed her fourth in the Olympics in Tokyo. Her time is also the third fastest in the world so far this year, and would have been good enough for silver at the last World Championships in Oregon in July 2022

Elsewhere, another rising teenage star Nick Griggs broke Darragh McElhinney’s Irish under-20 5,000m record of 13:54.10, running a brilliant time of 13:36.47, at the IFAM meeting in Oordegem, Belgium, on Saturday.

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan is an Irish Times sports journalist writing on athletics