Confident Adeleke makes Diamond League debut in Monaco on Friday
For Rhasidat Adeleke, Friday night signals a landmark moment in her career: a first-ever Diamond League, under the bright lights of the Stade Louis-II Stadium in Monaco, taking on one of the greatest female athletes of all time.
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone has won everything there is to win, smashed every record there is to smash, at her specialty event, the 400m hurdles, and now a new challenge beckons for the 23-year-old American: to win a world title in the flat 400m.
Among those standing in her way – tonight in Monaco and at next month’s World Championships in Budapest – is Adeleke, the 20-year-old Dubliner enjoying the kind of ascendant season that could end just about anywhere. Adeleke’s Irish 400m record of 49.20 to win the NCAA title last month makes her a genuine contender at the global level, but McLaughlin-Levrone proved this month she’s the woman to beat, running 48.74 to win the US title. In Monaco, McLaughlin-Levrone goes in lane four, with Adeleke in five and Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek in six, fresh off her PB of 49.48 last weekend.
It’s a race that will tell Adeleke, and her growing fanbase in Ireland, all they need to know about her medal chances at next month’s World Championships. It takes place at 7.15 pm Irish time and can be watched live on BBC Three or the Wanda Diamond League YouTube channel.
In the women’s mile at 7.35, Ciara Mageean will face a similar acid test, going up against the greatest female middle-distance runner in history, Faith Kipyegon, who will attempt to break Sifan Hassan’s world record of 4:12.33. Sonia O’Sullivan’s Irish record of 4:17.25 could well be under threat.
Sarah Lavin has been rewarded for her fine form of late with a lane in the 100m hurdles, taking on former world champion Nia Ali and European champion Pia Skrzyszowska just 24 hours after racing at the Continental Tour silver meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland on Thursday. Lavin finished fifth there in 12.87, just down on her recent PB of 12.73, the lost time attributable to a serious mid-race clatter.
Louise Shanahan finished sixth in the 800m at the same event in 2:00.48. Israel Olatunde was below his best in the men’s 100m, running 10.49, while Eric Favors finished a fine third in the men’s shot put, throwing 20.18m. Luke McCann was sixth in a tactical 1500m in 3:38.35, with teenager Nick Griggs just behind in 3:38.44.
