A fastest time in the world this year, a Diamond League record, two national records, four personal bests – and that was only in the women’s 400 metres. On Saturday, the London Stadium staged the last dress rehearsal before the Paris Olympics, and if Rhasidat Adeleke produced a satisfying run over the 200m, she also got a timely reminder of what awaits her at the Stade de France.
Adeleke moved down to the half-lap sprint and, running out in lane eight, finished fifth in 22.35 seconds – into a slight headwind (-0.9m/s), and just .01 of a second off her Irish record of 22.34 set in Florida last summer. The main point of the exercise was to sharpen her opening 200m speed, ahead of racing the 400m in Paris, and the 21-year-old certainly ticked that box.
Ahead of her were three of the 200m medal favourites. Gabby Thomas from the US ran a meeting record of 21.82, with Adekele’s training partners Julien Alfred from St Lucia improving her best to 21.86 in second and Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith third in 22.07, also her season best.
Just over an hour earlier, Nickisha Pryce from Jamaica made her Diamond League debut in the 400m, and the 23-year-old produced the run of her life before the sell-out crowd of almost 60,000 people when winning in a stunning 48.57 seconds.
That improved her previous best of 48.89, a US collegiate record set when winning the NCAA title last month for the University of Arkansas. It also broke the Diamond League record of 48.97 set by two-time Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo from the Bahamas (exactly six years previous) and moved Pryce to seventh on the all-time 400m list, ahead of Sydney Olympic champion Cathy Freeman.
In a race of exceptional depth, Poland’s European champion Natalia Kaczmarek came through for second in 48.90, taking 0.08 off her national record set in Rome last month, when Adeleke ran her Irish record of 49.07 to win silver. It was only the seventh time in history that two women bettered 49 seconds in the same race, with Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands also improving her lifetime best to 49.58 in third.
Thomas Williams made some Irish athletics history at the European Under-18 Athletics Championships in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
With that, Pryce may well have established herself as the gold medal favourite for Paris. Her 48.57 eclipsed the previous world best for 2024, the 48.75 that Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone of the US ran in New York in May (before confirming she’ll only contest the 400m hurdles in Paris).
Pryce finished second behind Adeleke at the 2023 NCAA Championships, and has improved from 50.21 already this season. While Adeleke remains the fourth fastest of 2024 with her 49.07, last year’s world champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic (48.76) and 2019 world champion Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain (48.14) have run sub-49 seconds before, and that might well be required to make the podium in Paris.
From London, Adeleke returns to her training base in Monaco, where the previous week she won her first Diamond League race over 400m. Her 49.17 there was also the second-fastest run of her life.
Two other Paris-bound Irish athletes enjoyed a similarly satisfying last run before the Olympics. Andrew Coscoran ran the fastest mile by an Irish athlete in 24 years when improving his best to 3:50.49, having previously run 3:53.64 indoors.
Noah Lyles from the US broke his lifetime best to take victory in the men’s 100m in 9.81 seconds
While the London victory went to Olli Hoare from Australia in 3:49.03, Coscoran finished fast to nail eighth spot. His time is now third on the Irish all-time list, and second outdoors, to Ray Flynn’s Irish record of 3:49.77 from 1982, and Eamonn Coghlan’s 3:49.78, set indoors in 1983.
Brian Fay also showed a great turn of speed over the last 200m to nail seventh in the 3,000m in 7:34.48, improving by almost two seconds his previous best of 7:36.89 set two years ago,
Then came Nick Griggs not far behind in 10th: his 7:36.59 took more than five seconds off his best of 7:41.68, clocked earlier this month at the Cork City Sports. Still only 19-year-old, the Tyrone athlete again improved the Irish under-23 record, moving him from 10th to fourth on the Irish all-time list.
Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu, the Sudan-born runner now representing Switzerland, and former member of the Athlete Refugee Team, won in a national and meeting record of 7:27.68.
There was also a super-fast women’s 800m, Keely Hodgkinson setting a British record of 1:54.61, before Matthew Hudson-Smith also improved the British and European 400m record to 43.74 seconds.
Noah Lyles from the US also broke his lifetime best to take victory in the men’s 100m in 9.81, and Dutch star Femke Bol produced another commanding run in the women’s 400m hurdles, also clocking a meeting record of 51.30. Her showdown with McLaughlin-Levrone is certain to set the Stade de France alight. As indeed will the race for the medal podium in the women’s 400m.
The main point of the exercise was to sharpen Adeleke’s opening 200m speed, ahead of racing the 400m in Paris
Meanwhile, Thomas Williams made some Irish athletics history at the European Under-18 Athletics Championships in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia. The 16-year-old from Cavan won gold in the hammer with a brilliant throw of 73.95 metres.
He became only the third Irish athlete to win gold at this level, and first male, and the first in any field event, after Rhasidat Adeleke’s 200m triumph in 2018 and Sarah Healy’s 800m-1,500m double the same year.
Conor Kelly from Derry Track Club also produced an Irish under-18 record of 46.97 for the 400m to win bronze in his final, following the bronze won on Friday by Cian Crampton in the men’s discus with another Irish under-18 record of 60.55m.
Joe Burke from Templemore AC also secured a bronze medal from lane eight in the men’s 200m final, crossing in a time of 21.31 seconds to also break the Irish under-18 200m record, before Seamus Clarke won silver in the 5km walk, his 21:05.70 also an Under-18 Irish record.
