Sunday morning in Budapest, easy as a stroll in the park, Rhasidat Adeleke cruised through her opening heat of the 400 metres at the World Championships, winning in a cool 50.80 seconds.
Lining up in lane five, in the fifth of the six heats at 10.07am local time – the National Athletics Stadium already a cauldron of heat and noise – the Dublin sprinter ran an utterly controlled race, cautious around the first bend, easing on the throttle down the backstretch, before easing home for the win.
Across the six heats, the top three, plus the six fastest losers, all progress to the semi-finals. Adeleke clearly has plenty in reserve; second best in her heat was Andrea Miklos from Romania, some way back with 51.24 seconds.
In only her third race in 10 weeks since that sensational victory at the American NCAA Championships – and Irish record of 49.20 seconds – Adeleke was always going to be somewhat rusty: there was little evidence of that however once she opened that long stride down the backstretch.
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“It was really calm and relaxed,” Adeleke said, an athlete in clear demand in the mixed zone afterwards. “The whole goal was just to go out there, stay in contention, in a good position, and win my heat. I’m excited to see how the next round goes, it’s later in the day so I’ve a bit more rest.
“The body felt really good, just to be out there to run, to see how I’m feeling, and really happy with how that went. I think I kind of fell asleep the first 200m, the coming around the bend, I was like ‘where am I? Okay wake up!’
“But honestly, I put all the pressure and expectation on myself. So it’s not new, I just try to block out all the external noise, and focus on myself.
“The last month was a bit hectic, but that was probably one of the easiest 50.8s I’ve ran. I felt really, really good, really controlled.”
And her goal from here? “To give it my all.”
Adeleke is back on the track on Monday evening for the three semi-finals (8.10pm Irish time), that ideally set up a final berth for Wednesday night. That last Irish woman to make that final was Joanne Cuddihy in Osaka back in 2007.
Sharlene Mawdsley was out in the first heat, just 12 hours after anchoring the Irish mixed 4x400m relay quartet to a sixth-place finish in the final, and gave herself every chance of qualifying too, nailing fourth in a new lifetime best of 51.17.
That improved on her previous best of 51.34, quite remarkable given the quick turn around after racing two relay legs on Saturday, and that was enough to send her through as one of the six fastest-losers.
Winning that first heat was Natalia Kaczmarek from Poland, who won the 400m in Monaco last month, in a cool 50.02.
What is certain is that the hunt for the three places on the medal podium is wide open.
American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who clocked a world-leading 48.74 in July to win the US 400m title, withdrew earlier this month due to a “minor knee injury”, the Olympic and world champion in the 400m hurdles preferring to turn her focus to the Paris Olympics already.
Also withdrawing due to injury was the 2019 world champion Salwa Eid Naser from Bahrain, which leaves Adeleke ranked third fastest overall this season behind the American Britton Wilson, who pulled up last in her heat, well out of contention, and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who won the last heat in 49.91.
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Defending champion Shaune Miller-Uibo from the Bahamas was a notable presence in the third heat, finishing seventh in 52.65, a highly impressive result, given she has only returned to racing four months after giving birth to her son Maicel in April.
Other contenders certainly emerged, including Nickisha Pryce winning heat four in an impressive 50.38 seconds.
