Rhasidat Adeleke takes silver in 400m at European Championships

It came oh so close to being the masterpiece of one-lap running required from Rhasidat Adeleke to carve out a third European Championship gold medal for Ireland inside four days, but in the end the Dublin sprinter had to settle for silver after a suitably thrilling 400 metres showdown inside the old Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Despite Adeleke smashing her own Irish record of 49.20 when clocking a brilliant 49.07 seconds, it was Natalia Kaczmarek from Poland who took the gold medal when improving her lifetime best by over half a second to break through the 49-second barrier for the first time, winning in a sensational 48.98 seconds.

Level with Kaczmarek from Poland coming into the homestretch, Adeleke called upon all her reserves to marginally edge ahead with 50m to go, but simply ran out of legs approaching the line as Kaczmarek showed her experience to finish that little bit stronger.

It’s still a second European medal for the 21-year-old, adding to that glittering gold already carved out from her second leg in the mixed 4x400m relay in Rome last Friday night. It’s also her first senior individual medal and surely not her last.

The Irish medal challenge was sort of team effort, given Sharlene Mawdsley was also part of that gold medal winning relay quartet and had also booked her place in the final. The 25-year-old from Tipperary finished eighth in 51.59, almost a second off her best.

It was always going to be hard to beat Kaczmarek, the 26-year-old from Poland who finished second behind the Dutch superstar Femke Bol at these European Championships in Munich two years ago. The fast-finishing Kaczmarek had also stepped up to World silver last year in Budapest last August behind Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, when Adeleke faded slightly down to homestretch to finish fourth.

The other big medal threat came from the Dutch woman Klaver, the 25-year-old with a best of 49.81 seconds, who nailed third in 50.08.

Adeleke’s pre-race tactics on the night were no doubt aided by the presence of her coach Edrick Floréal, who had made the long trip from Texas to Rome to help ensure everything went as smoothly as possible. Truth is, she could hardly have raced it any better.

When Adeleke took to her blocks, it felt as if the Stadio Olimpico hushed in anticipation. That reputation to dazzle and excite now precedes her, and if they pressure was on, she wasn’t displaying any of it. In was another stunning run nonetheless, just not quite good enough to win gold, but her chance will come again.

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