Santry Stadium bore witness last weekend to a smiling Rhasidat Adeleke, this after she secured her ticket to the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham with an impressive win in the 200m.
Perhaps it’s a stretch to say that a weight was fully lifted from the shoulders of the Tallaght athlete, but it was good to see her smile after a series of hamstring injuries had disrupted her progress.
Since coming close to medalling in the 400m and the women’s relay at the Paris Olympics, Adeleke endured a frustrating 2025, where she was an absentee at the World Championships in Tokyo.
But her demeanour at those National Championships was that of a competitor reborn. She told RTÉ Sport: “I’m just taking everything a day at a time and trying to relax and enjoy my experience”.
This, after admitting that the weight of expectation was getting too much.
“[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,” she added.
“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.”
Adeleke after just being edged out of a medal in the 400m at the Paris Olympics
In a fortnight’s time Adeleke will compete in the 200m in the English West Midlands, reverting to a distance she favoured earlier in her career.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio’s Inside Sport, Sonia O’Sullivan, who also had to deal with much pressure during her illustrious career, was impressed by the manner in which Adeleke achieved the qualifying mark at the Morton Stadium.
“Seeing Rhasidat last Saturday it looked like she was running freely and enjoying it,” said the Cobh native.
“It’s very difficult for an athlete to react and enjoy her running when there is something going on in the back of their head or on their body, a lingering something in there that is not 100%.
“There was a pressure on to get this time in not very favourable conditions. But she went out there and gave it all she had, no doubt after getting some good feedback from the heats in the morning. She didn’t have to go out there twice to try and achieve the time. The relief and joy at the finish shows how much it meant to her.”
Also on the programme, Derval O’Rourke, who twice medalled in the 110m hurdles at the Europeans, alluded to Adeleke narrowly missing out on a podium finish in the 400m at the Olympics and how that may have affected here.
Adeleke meeting her fans at Morton Stadium
“When I reflect on that race I think that really shocked her,” O’Rourke remarked.
“She prepared for that race with no other option than to bring home a medal and then she didn’t.
“You wondered how long that lingered for. Then she went into 2025. I remember being told by a coach some years ago, Malcolm Arnold, that sometimes athletes forget the hardest thing is to stay at the level they are at, it’s not to get better.
“I think she tried too hard to elevate from where she was and where she was so close to being at her absolute best. She is in that talent bracket and I think when she pushed so hard things became undone and fell apart a bit.
“She pulled out of the worlds last year and there was a bit of a debate about that. Could she have gone and tried? Obviously she didn’t want to do that.”
“She did put on a show, it was a clutch run in those conditions and the pressure she was under”
On dropping back in distance, O’Rourke believes it’s the kickstart that Adeleke required, and will be all eyes when the event is run in Birmingham.
“When she came out this year you got that sense of urgency when the 400 wasn’t working out. She dropped back to the 200 and the 200 is her first love. The reception she got [at the Nationals] and maybe she need to be reminded of the place she holds for people.
“She did inspire the nation. She did put on a show, it was a clutch run in those conditions and the pressure she was under. She has been training for the 400 but is running the 200m so she may not have the speed work done.
“But it will be intriguing to see how she fares over the 200.”
Well on that, O’Sullivan believes Adeleke “should be able to get to a final”, adding that “every race for her will be a final that leads to the final so she’ll have to run her best every time”.
O’Rourke, who along with her fellow Corkonian will be part of RTÉ’s television coverage of the Europeans, feels it will be “a big ask” for Adeleke to medal, with “Amy Hunt and Dina Asher-Smith the favourites”