Chris O’Donnell insists there ‘won’t be any grudges’ if Rhasidat Adeleke opts out of Ireland’s mixed 4x400m Olympic relay team

His preference – all day long – would be to win a medal with the mixed relay.

Track isn’t totally defined as an individual pursuit to every athlete, it seems.

O’Donnell has no regrets about prioritising the team event this year – even if his hopes of qualifying for the 400m individual event at the Paris Olympics have “probably taken a hit”.

The reward came when he ran the lead leg in the mixed 4x400m relay team that won an historic European gold medal for Ireland in Rome two weeks ago.

And Paris?

While European gold gives them “huge confidence” ahead of what’s set to be his second Olympics, there is the small matter of the involvement of Rhasidat Adeleke, who has serious potential to medal in her individual event.

Which is why O’Donnell is waiting anxiously to see what decision Adeleke and her coach Edrick Floreal arrive at.

But the scheduling is an issue that could result in her absence.

The heats for the mixed relay in Paris are on Friday, August 2, with the final the following day.

The start of the women’s 400m is on Monday, August 5, which presents the Dubliner with a dilemma.

At least O’Donnell knows the mixed relay team have coped in the past without her in the quartet.

“Obviously, it’s not a secret that we’d love her to run, but that’s a decision to be made by herself and her coaches and whatever they think is best [for her]. If she doesn’t run, we’ve made finals before without her,” acknowledges O’Donnell (26).

“We’ve got good athletes to step up. Of course, we’d like her to run, but she’s going to make whatever decision is best for her. There won’t be any grudges held over that, but all we can do between now and then is try and improve ourselves.”

O’Donnell has already shown that this year. He wasn’t selected in the quartet for the 4x400m mixed relay that won bronze and secured Olympic qualification at the World Athletics Relays in the Bahamas in May.

Cillín Greene got the nod instead, but a determined O’Donnell got back into the team for the Europeans.

​Between winning the mixed relay gold, running his individual 400m heat, the medal presentation, the 400m semi-final (he was later disqualified for a lane infringement having initially crossed the line in fourth position in 45.72) in the space of just three days, the highs of the championships came with an inevitable crash after it all ended.

“Yeah, it did take a toll, there’s no doubt about it. It was the quickest week of my life and I think a part of that was because I probably got two or three nights’ worth of sleep in that whole week. That’s why it felt like two or three days. It was one thing after another,” he recalls.

O’Donnell picked up “a little bit of an illness” on his return to his training base in Loughborough, but he will be back to defend his 400m title at the National Championships at the Morton Stadium in Santry this weekend.

And he hasn’t lost hope of hitting the Olympic qualifying standard (45.0 seconds) in the 400m in what will be his last chance to achieve it ahead of the Irish team being confirmed for Paris.

“I’m obviously going out there to try and win and try and qualify and try run the standard myself as well,” he declares.

“In the Bahamas, it was disappointing not to be picked for that [mixed relay]. It was a bit of a shock, but I could have spent the next few months sulking about that, but I decided not to.

“I decided to just knuckle down and run as fast as I could.

“I’ve put down a pretty decent marker in 45.6. I’d like to think that puts me in a good spot and I’ve a lot of experience – but at the same time, I want to qualify individually and I’ve got one more shot to do that.”

He hopes that he is celebrating again this weekend.