A searing anchor leg from Rhasidat Adeleke proved pivotal to Ireland securing a place in the final of the mixed 4x400 metres on the opening day of the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Competing in the second heat of Friday’s opening session, Ireland passed off in fourth going into the final leg, only the top three sure of qualifying for the final, set for the local evening session (3.50am Irish time).
Adeleke promptly moved into third, then moved into second off the final bend, passing the Jamaican runner Tiffney James to nail second spot behind the Dominican Republic, who took the win in 3:13:22 to Ireland’s 3:13.88, with Jamaica third in 3:13.95.
Still only 19, Adeleke also clocked the second fastest leg of 49.80 seconds, behind only the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, who clocked 49.50
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With all teams now required to run man-woman-man-woman, Chris O’Donnell ran the opening leg with a 46.33 seconds split, passing over the Sophie Becker in second: she ran a 52.38 split and lost some ground, slipping to fifth, before Jack Raftery brought Ireland back in contention with his 45.37 split, the fastest of the leg.
Becker and O’Donnell were part of the Irish quartet that made the Olympic final in Tokyo last summer, producing the Irish record of 3:12.88.
Favourites, the US, looked imperious, winning the first heat in 3:11.75, ahead of the Netherlands (3:12.63) and Poland (3:13.70); it means Ireland are ranked fifth fastest going into the final.
Becker (51.83) and O’Donnell (45.26) have both improved their 400m bests this season, Adeleke going better again with her Irish record of 50.70 set in the US back in May, and a repeat of that sort of time would certainly give the quartet a chance of mixing it for the medals.
