Adeleke powers into World 400m final

Rhasidat Adeleke secured an automatic qualifying spot into the final of the women's 400m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, while compatriot Sharlene Mawdsley bowed at the penultimate stage.

Adeleke Adeleke breezed into the semis with a controlled performance in her heat on Sunday, taking victory in a time of 50.80 and posted another sub-50 time in her semi-final to take second place in 49.87 behind the Dominican Olympic silver medalist Marileidy Paulino.

Running from lane five, the Tallaght native appeared to ease herself into the race, picking up the pace as she entered the last round to power down the home stretch and hold off the challenge of Cynthia Bolingo for the second automatic qualifying spot.

Adeleke, who has taken almost a second and a half off the 400m Irish record over the last 12 months, goes into Wednesday's final (8.35pm) as a genuine medal contender.

"I went out a bit slow and was a bit further back than I planned, but I know what to change for the final and I'm excited for it," she said after the race.

Mawdsley ran in the second of the three semi-finals and her time of 51.78 was good enough for a seventh-place finish.

The Tipperary native secured her passage as one of the fastest non-automatic qualifiers for the semi-finals with a PB of 51.17 a day after running the anchor leg in Sunday's mixed relay final.

She finished 1.91 of a second behind winner Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands.

"It's been an amazing week," she said post-race. "I really can’t believe what I’ve produced. I believed in myself this week and I’ve been rewarded with a personal best and an individual semi-final.

"I trusted my training and that I could produce back-to-back performances so it’s given me great confidence that I can