There is no such thing as a straightforward path into any Olympic final, no matter what the distance, only one that is perhaps marginally less treacherous than the rest.
The prospect now awaits Rhasidat Adekele.
After producing an exceptionally smooth Olympic debut when winning her 400 metres heat on Monday, Adeleke returns to the Stade de France on Wednesday evening drawn in the first of three semi-finals (7.45pm Irish time). One small step taken, still one big step up to where we know she wants to go.
Remember no Irish woman has ever made an Olympic sprint final, and Adeleke has already made a habit of going where no Irish sprinter has gone before.
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The 21-year-old from Dublin hasn’t come to Paris with only that goal in mind and the three semi-finals should also reveal a lot more about the potential destination of the medals come Friday night’s final showdown.
Adeleke believes she can be among them.
Only the first two from each semi-final, plus the two fastest losers, will progress. Adeleke has the fastest time in the world this year among the eight women in her semi-final, the 49.07 seconds clocked with winning silver at the European Championships in June.
Drawn in lane eight (two to nine are being used), Adeleke will have Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain for company, the 2019 world champion who has a best of 49.66 from this year and is drawn inside her in lane seven. But Naser has also run 48.14, when winning that title five years ago, the third fastest time in history.
A year after running that, Naser was banned for two years for a doping offence, and the form of the 26-year-old has been erratic since, although she appears to be improving again.
Crucially perhaps for Adeleke – and this is the marginally less treacherous part – she has avoided 2023 world champion Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic, and also Nickisha Pryce from Jamaica, who last month in London ran the fastest time of 2024 when lowering her best to 48.57.
They’ll face-off in the second semi-final and it’s already evident that Paulino, who was the fastest in the Monday’s qualifiers, has arrived in Paris in peak form. Poland’s European champion Natalia Kaczmarek, who along with Pryce is the only other women who has run faster than Adeleke this year, goes in the last semi-final.
Friday’s final lane assignments will also be decided on semi-final performances and Adeleke won’t be taking any chances on that. The best way to ensure a favourable lane is to win. The best chance for Adeleke to do that is to go out hard over the first 200m.
Her coach Edrick Floréal at the University of Texas has made no secret of the fact her strength is her speed. Adeleke showed that when running 23.40 seconds for her first 200m on Monday before going into “shut down”.
Floréal has indicated he wants Adeleke to run closer to 23.00 for the first 200m, which may not be required to book her place in the final, but likely will be to win a medal if she gets there.
Adeleke won’t be holding anything in reserve this time.
“I didn’t want to use too much energy, just wanted to do what I needed to qualify,” she said after Monday’s heat, which she won in 50.09, easing up and looking around her as soon as she reached the Olympic rings painted halfway down the homestretch.
“So I don’t know exactly what percentage I was at, but it didn’t feel like a really hard run. I feel like my first 200m was pretty calm. I didn’t go too aggressive. I went out at the right pace.”
Also in Adeleke’s semi-final is Lieke Klaver, part of the Dutch 4x400m relay team which won gold last Saturday, and who also likes to go out hard.
Naser, however, appears to be the big threat, even if she appears a long way off the athlete of 2019. Born in Nigeria, her father from Bahrain, Naser’s 48.14 has only been bettered twice in history.
When Adeleke ran her 49.07 in Rome, she spoke about still being in a heavy block of training at the time, but there’ll be no holding back here.
After Sharlene Mawdsley missed qualifying for the semi-final by one place, there were hopes of progressing via Tuesday’s repechage round, but her time of 51.18 left her ranked 10th overall. With only the top six going through, Sophie Becker also fell short as she ranked 11th overall.
Mawdsley and Becker have both committed to running the heats of the women’s 4x400m relay on Friday, while Sophie O’Sullivan and Sarah Healy will run again in Wednesday morning’s repechage of the 1,500m (11.45am Irish time). They both came up just one place short in their heats on Monday, finishing seventh. O’Sullivan improved her best by two seconds to 4:00.23, moving her to fourth on the Irish all-time list, one place behind her mother Sonia.
