Rhasidat Adeleke and Tebogo dazzle at the World Relays with spectacular individual performances

As a country of just over 5 million, Ireland does not have much of a history in the relays. But they have a budding star in 21-year-old Nigeria-born Rhasidat Adeleke, who is helping the team to new heights.

Last Saturday, Adeleke split 49.64 in the mixed 4 x 400 and 49.48 in the women’s 4 x 400 as Ireland won both of its heats to qualify for the Olympics in both events.

On Sunday, with just one race on the docket (she skipped the women’s 4 x 400), Adeleke split 48.45 to help Ireland to bronze in the mixed 4 x 400 — the fastest women’s split of the entire meet (and more than a second faster than Femke Bol and Marileidy Paulino split in the same race).

Last year, Adeleke ran 49.20 (#2 NCAA all-time) to win the NCAA 400 title for Texas in June and held on impressively well after a long collegiate season to finish 4th at Worlds more than two months later. Now a professional, Adeleke’s main focus is the Olympics in 2024, and so far things are looking good; the week before her relay heroics in the Bahamas, Adeleke ran 10.84 in the 100 (+3.5) in Austin to crush training partners Dina Asher-Smith (11.10) and Julien Alfred (11.15). Only one Irishwoman has ever medalled in athletics at the Olympics (Sonia O’Sullivan took 5,000 silver in 2000). Adeleke is looking like a medalist in the flat 400 and, after this weekend, perhaps the mixed 4 x 400 as well.

In the men’s relays, the star was Letsile Tebogo, who was tremendous in helping Botswana to gold in the 4 x 400. Though Tebogo is a world medalist in the 100 and 200, he had already shown impressive range in 2024, setting the 300m world record of 30.69 in February and running a 400m pb of 44.29 in March.

So we knew that Tebogo had sub-44 ability on the relay, but to see him do it twice in just over 24 hours was very impressive. Across 16 races (prelims, finals, and repechage of the men’s 4 x 400 and mixed 4 x 400), Tebogo had two of the three fastest splits. His 43.49 in the 4 x 400 prelims was the best by anyone all weekend, and his 43.72 in the final was #3 (Great Britain’s Charles Dobson was #2 thanks to his 43.63 in the mixed 4 x 400 prelims).

Tebogo would be among the favorites for 400m gold in Paris this year but he told reporters afterwards that he has no immediate plans to move up in distance.

“I will be tempted to move maybe in a couple of years,” Tebogo said. “Not now. It’s very fun in the 100 and the 200. The 400 is very painful. No child’s play.”

Tebogo also has the opportunity to do something no man has ever accomplished at the Olympics: triple gold in the 100, 200, and 4 x 400. Noah Lyles, of course, has spoken about attempting the same triple (with the 4 x 100 thrown in as well). And while the US has a better shot at gold in the 4 x 400, Lyles does not have a clear path to putting himself on that team. Tebogo, meanwhile, would not only be part of Botswana’s 4 x 400; he would be their best runner.

Tebogo is headed to the US next. He will face Christian Coleman in the 100 at the LA Grand Prix on May 18, followed by a race against Erriyon Knighton and Kenny Bednarek over 200 at the Pre-Classic on May 25.