It took just two races within the hour for Rhasidat Adeleke to resume her storming of the Irish record books, breaking both her own indoor 60m and 200m marks in her first individual races of 2024.
It being Olympic year it’s also a clear and exciting signal of her intent, Adeleke’s record double coming at the Dr Martin Luther King Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she first won the 60m in a new lifetime best of 7.15 seconds.
That shaved .02 off the previous mark Adeleke ran at the same venue in March 2022, already the second fastest time in world this year, before just under an hour later the 21-year-old Dubliner was back on the track for the 200m, finishing second in 22.49.
Victory there went to her Texas training partner Julien Alfred, the St Lucia sprinter winning in 22.28, and who like Adeleke has surrendered her last year of her college eligibility and is now racing as a professional. Like Adeleke, Alfred also finished fourth in the World Championships in Budapest last summer in the 200m.
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Adeleke’s 22.49 improved the 22.52 she also ran in Albuquerque last year, which does benefit from the high altitude known to be a slight advantage in the short sprint events. After breaking seven Irish senior records last year, including both the outdoor 200m and 400m marks, Adeleke now looks poised to go even faster again in 2024.
She opened her season at the University of Kentucky last weekend, part of an elite 4x400 metre relay quartet, where Adeleke ran the second leg with a split of 51.74 seconds.
It is still unclear whether Adeleke will run the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow on the first weekend in March, which would mean coming to Europe and adjusting to the different time zone; her indoor best from last year of 50.33 would have placed second at the 2022 World Indoors, although it’s more likely she will remain at her Texas training base.
The Dublin sprinter has also indicated she’s likely to run the European Championships this summer, which take place in Rome in June, 50 days before the Olympics begin in Paris.
Back at home, Katie Bergin of Moyne AC retained her indoor sprint titles in the 60m and 200m at the National U-20/U-23 Indoor Championships in Athlone, Bergin secured the double U-23 gold in impressive fashion, taking the 60m earlier in the day with a 7.62 best, before going on to claim the 200m title in 24.54.
The men’s U-20 1,500m saw four athletes running under the previous championships record, Jack Fenlon of St. Abbans AC first home in 3:51.75.
Tallaght AC also look to have another sprint star in the making in the form of Sean Aigboboh, who stormed to gold in the U-20 60m race, his winning time of 6.84 equalling Israel Olatunde’s 2021 championship record. Leevale’s Reece Ademola also sailed to a superb championship record of 7.17 championship record in the men’s U-23 long jump competition.
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