Athletics

Rhasidat Adeleke wins Texas 100m invitational with a fast, wind-assisted time

Competing on her home track at the University of Texas, Adeleke notches a time of 10.84 seconds

Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke impressed in a 100m meeting in Texas. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke impressed in a 100m meeting in Texas. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
Ian O'Riordan
Sun Apr 28 2024 - 11:17

The performance was as dominant as it was impressive, Rhasidat Adeleke running one of the fastest 100 metres in the world this year, a wind-assisted 10.84 seconds.

Competing on her home track at the University of Texas, Adeleke was targeting the Irish 100m record of 11.27 set last year by Sarah Lavin and instead smashed through the 11-second barrier and beat two World Champions in the process.

While the wind reading of +3.5 metres per second, above the legal +2.0, rules that time out for record purposes, it was a nonetheless awesome run by the Dublin sprinter as she builds up towards the 400m at the Paris Olympics.

Adeleke’s 100m best is 11.31, and even with the wind advantage this was unquestionably faster; she also dominated the race, moving to the front after 20m and winning by a clear distance ahead of Celera Barnes of the US, who clocked 10.94.

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Then came two of her training partners in Texas – Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, the 2019 World 200m champion, second in 11.10, with Julien Alfred from St Lucia, who last month won the World Indoor 60m title, third in 11.15.

The fastest legal time in the world this year is the 10.77 run by Jacious Sears from the US earlier this month, Adeleke’s 10.84 still a telling sign of things to come.

Between indoor and outdoors, Adeleke has set records at 60m, 200m, 300m and 400m, and has made no secret of the fact she’d like to add the 100m record too, that now only a matter of time.

On Wednesday, the 21-year-old will fly down to the Bahamas for the 2024 World Relay Championships, part of the Irish mixed 4x400m and women’s 4x400m teams looking to secure their Paris qualification this weekend, a top-14 finish ensuring their place.

Adeleke has also indicated she will likely run the European Athletics Championships in Rome in June, possibly in the 200m, before turning her attention to Paris.

Also in the US, two Irish runners featured in the Villanova team that set a US collegiate record when winning the 4xmile relay at the famed Penn Relays in Philadelphia.

Seán Donoghue and Charlie O’Donovan were part of the quartet that clocked an NCAA record of 15:51.91, the team also coached by Marcus O’Sullivan, who was part of the Irish 4 x mile relay team that set the world record of 15:49.08 in Belfield back in 1985, a record which still stands.

At the Suzhou Diamond League in China, Mark English gained some valuable ranking points in his bid for Olympic qualification with a seventh place finish in the 800m, running 1:46.47, while Brian Fay later finished 13th in the 5000m in 13:25.37.

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan is an Irish Times sports journalist writing on athletics