Sport

Olympics: Rhasidat Adeleke advances to the 400m semi finals after comfortable victory in her first round race

Team Ireland’s Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker will compete in the women’s Repechage for an opportunity at a semi finals spot.

Paris 2024
Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke competes in the Women's 400m Round 1 Heat 6 at the Stade de France on the tenth day of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in France. Picture date: Monday August 5, 2024. (Martin Rickett/Martin Rickett/PA Wire)
By John McGovern

Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke advances to the women’s 400m semi finals after securing a comfortable heats victory, recording a time of 50.09 seconds.

The Tallaght athlete began the race with a reaction time of 0.162 seconds and maintained a safe distance from the rest of her competitors to progress to Wednesday’s semi-finals.

The three-time 2024 European Championships medallist will be joined by heat six’s second-placed Alexis Holmes (US) and third-placed Junelle Broomfield (Jamaica).

In Heat Five of the 400m first round, Limerick’s Sharlene Mawdsley narrowly missed out on immediate qualification to the semi finals by less than 0.05 of a second.

Team Ireland
Olympic Women's 400m athletes Rhasidat Adeleke (left), Sharlene Mawdsley (right) and Sophie Becker (second to the right) have all competed together in the Women's 4x400m, winning Silver at the 26th European Athletics Championships. Rome 2024 at Stadio Olimpico on June 12, 2024 in Rome, Italy. (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Mawdsley achieved her personal best time of 50.71 and an reaction time of 0.147, quicker than her two Irish compatriots, however, she was edged out by Austria’s Susanne Gogl-Walli to a coveted top three spot. They will join second-placed Aaliyah Butler (US) and race winner Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic) in the 400 semi-finals on August 7.

The Team Ireland representative will get a chance at redemption in the repechage rounds on Tuesday morning, where she will be joined by 400m Relay team-mate, Sophie Becker, who fell short in Monday morning’s 400m first round Heats after placing sixth with a time of 51.84 seconds.

The Co Wexford native failed to reach the top three qualifying spots, with Qatar’s Salwa Eid Nasar clinching top spot with a time of 49.91.

They will be joined by Jamaica’s Stacey Ann Williams and Romania’s Andrea Miklos in the semi-finals on Wednesday.

The Team Ireland runner will compete in the repechage round on Tuesday morning for an opportunity to advance to the finals.

Mawdsley will compete in Heat One of the repechage Round and Becker will race in Heat Four at 10.20am on Tuesday.

Adeleke and the 17 other athletes who have already qualified will await the six fastest repchage performers at the semi-finals, which commence on Wednesday at 7.45pm.