Rhasidat Adeleke has said that she is learning to deal with adversity after clocking a brilliant 22.80 in the women’s 200m at the Irish Nationals – earning a qualification time for August’s European Championships in Birmingham.
It’s been a difficult spell for the 23-year-old as a series of hamstring injuries have disrupted her progress, but she thrilled the Santry crowd to finish ahead of Lauren Roy (23.49), with Sharlene Mawdsley pulling up before the conclusion of the race.
“I’m just trying to work with the cards I’ve been dealt with this year,” Adeleke, who confirmed she intends to race at the Euros, told RTÉ Sport afterwards.
“It’s new for me, this type of adversity. I think throughout my career I’ve been blessed to have a pretty seamless route to success and yeah, a couple of injuries, things that we would have changed in our coaching regime, just so many things that transpired and now we’re here where we are and I’m just taking everything a day at a time and trying to relax and enjoy my experience.
“I think I want to put having fun at the forefront and pinnacle of why I do this.
“Coming out here, I wasn’t pressured to get the time. I just wanted to show up for the crowd and have fun really.”
Adeleke’s ascension towards the upper echelons of athletics has brought with it great expectations, especially with LA 2028 looming large.
The Tallaght AC runner admits that she has felt the pressure and is working on taking a more relaxed approach to competition.
“(Performances) has always been my main priority and as I improved and I became world class, I think the pressure built – not just for myself but everybody else.
“I know pressure is a privilege, I always said, that but I almost let it consume me a little bit and I think just having this difficulty and adversity has kind of brought me back to why I do it in the first place.
“You have to analyse everything when things like that happen and I just came back to figuring out who I am, why I do this and why I started it and who I do it for.”
Elsewhere at Morton Stadium, Benjamin Richardson (Waterford AC) won his first Irish title with a time of 20.64 in the men’s 200m with Sean Aigboboh (Tallaght AC) next home in 20.75.
In the men’s 10000m walk, David Kenny (Farranfore Maine Valley AC) retained his Irish crown in a time of 38:56.24, finishing ahead of Jerome Caprice (Dundrum South Dublin AC).
Kate Veale (West Waterford AC) made it an incredible 30 national titles overall after winning the women’s 5000m walk, her seventh title in a row in the event.
Kate Veale won her 30th national title
Eric Favors (Raheny Shamrock AC) also retained his shot-put crown with a best throw of 19.47m.
Daena Kealy (St Abbans AC) set a new PB of 1.87m to win the women’s high jump.