2 days Ago
Dubliner hopes to hold all national sprint titles by time she heads to the Paris Olympics Rhasidat Adeleke. Photo: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile For some this is merely a pitstop, a chance to sharpen their speed and greet their growing fanbase on the path to Paris. For others, it might be an end in itself, their Olympic dream living or dying depending on how they fare this weekend.
For Rhasidat Adeleke, it’s the former, the Dubliner back in town for her last race on home soil before the Olympics. Given the level she’s reached, it’s easy to think she’ll coast to victory at the 123.ie National Championships in Santry, but to get gold, she’ll have to be on her A-game.
Adeleke will race the 100m on Sunday where she is likely to square off with Sarah Lavin, who will first compete in the 100m hurdles tomorrow. Lavin did the golden double last year and went on to break Phil Healy’s Irish 100m record by clocking 11.27 in Switzerland.
That’s the sole Irish sprint record not held by Adeleke. “One of the records she really wants, it’s no secret, is that Irish 100m record,” said Adeleke’s coach Edrick Floreal in February. He’s put a huge focus on improving her sprint mechanics this year and said: “It’s really paid off.
It’s a thing of beauty when she does it well.” Adeleke’s 100m PB is the 11.31 she ran in 2021, but she clocked a blazing 10.
84 in Texas in April, which didn’t stand as a national record due to the tailwind of 3.5m/s, well over the legal limit of.
