Sport

Rhasidat Adeleke is first Irish women in 17 years to win NCAA title

Rhasidat Adeleke won gold in the 400m and sprints relay for University of Texas in the NCAA Championships
Rhasidat Adeleke won gold in the 400m and sprints relay for University of Texas in the NCAA Championships
By Malcolm McCausland

Rhasidat Adeleke took another huge step forward in her career when she became the first Irish woman in 17 years to win a National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) title.

Adeleke struck double gold in the early hours of Sunday morning, breaking her own Irish 400m record in the process.

Running on her adopted home track at the University of Texas, the Tallaght sprinter accelerated out of the final bend to go clear of world number three Britton Wilson and claim the title in an Irish and meet record of 49.20 seconds. That bridged a gap all the way back to 2006 when Sligo’s Mary Cullen won the 5000m in the colours of Providence College.

Earlier in the programme Adeleke had been part of the winning University of Texas sprint relay squad helping the Longhorns to a convincing victory in the overall team competition.

"(The race) was kind of a blur, I just went out trusting myself,” said the 20-year-old after the 400m race.

“Not really sure what I went through the 200 (mark), I just put myself into position coming into the home stretch, and it was the kick at the end, which is something I've been doing well all season."

Read more

  • Irish athletes in record-breaking form
  • Dublin sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke breaks her own 100m and 200m records on same weekend

Sophie O’Sullivan, daughter of Sonia O’Sullivan, was also in action finishing 12th in the 1500m with a time of 4:22.81 while Jane Buckley was 13th in the 5000m final in 16:06.76. The other Irish athlete to make a final was Brian Fay finished ninth in a tactical 5000m in 14:11.13, almost a minute outside his best time. The 24-year-old Dubliner was fifth when the real race kicked off with about a mile to run but could not cope with the change of pace.

Meanwhile it may go down in history as one of the greatest nights in athletics with three on one evening at the Diamond League fixture in Paris on Friday. Strictly speaking, Faith Kipyegon and Lamecha Girma set world records in the women’s 5000m and men’s 3000m steeplechase respectively while it was a world best for Jakob Ingebrigtsen over two miles, a distance not recognised by World Athletics for record purposes.

Kipyegon wrote her name into the history books for 5000m, winning in 14:05.20, just a week after setting a new global mark for 1500m in Florence. The 29-year-old Kenyan followed the pacemaking of Letesenbet Gidey until about 600m to go before overtaking the Ethiopian and going on to improve Gidey’s previous best by 1.42 seconds.

“I didn’t think about the world record, I don’t know how I made it,” said Kipyegon.

“I just focused on the green light and tried to stay relaxed and enjoy the race. When I saw that it was a world record, I was so surprised – I just wanted to improve on my PB, the world record was not my plan."

Girma only had the pacing lights for opposition for most of the 3000m steeplechase before winning by over 100 metres in 7:52.11, taking 1.52 seconds off the world record set 19 years ago by Kenya-born Qatari Said Saeed Shaheen.

Earlier Jakob Ingebrigtsen had set the tone for the evening setting a world best of 7:54.10 for the non-championship distance of two miles. Incredibly that equates to back to back miles in 3:57.