MIXED MAGIC AS IRELAND GET BRONZE
RHASIDAT Adeleke put down a marker for her upcoming Olympics medal bid by propelling Ireland’s mixed relay team to bronze in the World Championships.
The podium result was the icing on the cake for Team Ireland in the Bahamas.
Adeleke (21) produced the fastest female split of the weekend in Nassau with a searing 48.45 second leg in the 4x400m final that was faster than all her Paris rivals.
Both the mixed and women’s teams had already qualified for
Paris by virtue of their performance in the heats 24 hours earlier.
Heat
Then the mixed team turned up the heat in their final, breaking the national record for the second time over a very special weekend to finish in a time of 3:11.53, behind the gold medal winners USA (3:10.73) and the Netherlands (3:11.45).
Cillín Greene got the ball rolling before giving the baton to Adeleke who, despite running twice in the heats the previous day, raced into second spot before handing off to Thomas Barr.
He powered through the third leg to hand over to Sharlene Mawdsley for the anchor leg in second place.
Mawdsley, who also ran twice in the heats, fought hard to hold off indoor 400m world record holder Femke Bol.
But the Dutch woman claimed the silver for her team, with Ireland hugely content to make the podium.
“I really appreciate my team-mates, Cillín gave it to me in a brilliant position so I just took that and built on it,” Adeleke said later.
“I wanted to try my best to put Tom in the best position and I was able to catch a couple of people.”
Greene added: “It’s unbelievable, the stuff of dreams.
“We all ran so well last night, a national record, and to go out and back it up again and take a second off it, it’s phenomenal.
“We can’t be happier.” Veteran Barr reflected on an unbelievable journey for the team, who almost competed at the Tokyo Games.
“Look at what we’ve built in nine years,” he marvelled.
“I’m very, very proud of this team and I’m very proud to say we gave it absolutely everything we had.
“We always punch above our weight.
“That is our magic.” And Mawdsley smiled: “I’ll be making the most of this.
“It’s a great start to the Olympic season and we couldn’t have asked for much more today.”
Competing in their final just half an hour later, the women’s 4X400m team had to do so without Adeleke and Mawdsley.
Ireland — with Phil Healy, Roisin Harrison, Lauren Cadden and Sophie Becker on board — finished in seventh place in a time of 3:30.95.