For the second time in 24 hours an Irish athlete came within a couple of strides of a medal at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
On this occasion a strangely subdued Rhasidat Adeleke fell just short of a podium place and it remains 28 years since an Irish athlete won a track medal at a World Championships.
Adeleke had vowed she was going to run a much faster opening 200m after having to work hard in the final stages of her semi-final to grab the runner-up spot.
But she was sluggish out of her blocks and Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands in the lane outside made huge gains on the Tallaght athlete on the backstraight.
Adeleke was still well back as the field entered the final 100 metres, but the usual vaunted finishing speed seemed missing as she scrambled to get home in fourth place.
The race was won by Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic with a national record of 48.76 seconds, followed home by Natalia Kaczmarek (49.57) of Poland and Sada Williams (49.60) of Barbados.
Adeleke’s time of 50.13 was almost a second outside her national record (49.20) and slower than she had run in the semi-final when she recorded 49.87 seconds.
Taking the positive out of the performance, it has to be pointed out that she is still young but it is certain she was looking for a better result in advance of her 21st birthday next Tuesday.
Such was the standard in the women’s 100m hurdles that a new national record of 12.62 seconds was insufficient for Sarah Lavin to progress beyond the semi-finals of the event.
In fact, despite shaving three-hundredths of a second off Derval O’Rourke’s previous mark set in 2010, it was only good enough for fifth in the first of the three semi-finals. Nevertheless the record caps a brilliant season for the 29-year-old Limerick woman, who last month lifted national senior titles both in the 100m flat and hurdles.
In yesterday’s morning session, Louise Shanahan made an early exit from the 800m.
The Cork athlete had to endure temperatures in the low 30s as she finished fifth in 2:00.66 with only the first three guaranteed advancement.
Winner of the heat was Halimah Nakaaya of Uganda in 1:59.68. Shanahan ranked 27th of the 56 athletes doing duty for their country in the event.
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Thursday’s programme kicks off early with Brendan Boyce involved in the 35km Walk.
The 36-year-old Donegal man was sixth in the 50km at the 2019 World Championships and followed that up with a 10th in Tokyo 2020 Olympics two years ago.
That longer distance probably suited him as he was only 26th over 35km at last year’s World Championships in Oregon.
Today will be the first time this year that he competes at a distance further than 20km.
Letterkenny’s Mark English qualified for the semi-finals of the 800m as one of only three advanced on fastest times outside the automatic qualifiers.
The achievement has prompted Patsy McGonagle to hail his Finn Valley clubman as “the finest athlete this county [Donegal] has ever produced.”
“It showed unbelievable mental resolve,” said McGonagle, who led the Irish team to four Olympic Games. “That mental approach has served him well in championship races over many years to become the world-class athlete that he is. He is one of the top 800m runners in the world.
“People need to really wake up to the fact that Mark English is the finest athlete that this county has ever produced. Indeed, he would be in a conversation regarding the finest sportsperson. His longevity and performance at the top level is remarkable.”
However, it would be the pinnacle of 30-year-old Letterkenny man’s career, notwithstanding his four European medals, if he were to make the final on Saturday evening.
English has at least one obvious trump card, his fast finish, but then again probably so have the other seven in his race.
With only the first two across the line in each of the three semis plus the next two fastest overall, it will all probably come down to hundredths of a second.
Brian Fay is drawn in the first heat of the 5000m this evening with the first eight to go through to Sunday’s final.
The Raheny Shamrock athlete could not have had a much more difficult heat with defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, surprisingly beaten by Scot Josh Kerr in the 1500m last night, newly-crowned 10,000m gold medallist Joshua Cheptegei, and sub-13 minute performers, among others, Mo Katir of Spain, Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet and Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir.
Fay will be hoping for a fast pace from the gun otherwise the diminutive Dubliner may suffer in a roughhouse race.
