Sky is the limit for Irish athlete after spectacular record-breaking victory in the 400m at the NCAA championships in Texas
What is certain, at least for now, is that Adeleke won’t be leaving Texas: only that lure of “turning pro” may well be increasingly impossible to resist.
Rhasidat Adeleke celebrates after winning the 400 metres at the NCAA Track And Field Championships, Myers Stadium, Austin, Texas. Photograph: Brendan Maloney/Inpho Britton Wilson, who most expected to take the title on Saturday, had won her semi-final in 49.36, a full half a second faster than Adeleke. At the time that was a meeting and stadium record. Already a World champion in the 4x400m relay with the US last summer, the 22-year-old Arkansas athlete was unquestionably the favourite, only Adeleke was simply not settling for second, where she finished behind Wilson at the NCAA indoors back in March.
Still two months shy of 21, Adeleke has another year to go at Texas, and is on course to graduate in May 2024 – and taking extra courses too given she first started mid-year, in January 2021. The year or two out would allow her to focus entirely on Paris and beyond, while still training in Texas. Wilson, interestingly, has already declared her intentions to run professional in 2024, despite having another year to go at Arkansas.
Adeleke’s next big goal will be the World Championships in Budapest in late August, where her experience of NCAA level competition will unquestionably stand to her. If she can make that final anything is indeed possible, as her performance on Saturday night proved.
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