'I just need to keep faith' - Rhasidat Adeleke ready for 2025
Rhasidat Adeleke had high hopes heading into the Olympic year of 2024, and while she reached the final in Paris and landed a silver medal at the European Championships, she admits that she wanted more.
The Tallaght athlete brought the nation to a standstill during the summer as she made her way through the heats to reach the 400m decider, before finishing fourth, agonisingly close to securing a place on the podium.
Earlier during the summer, Adeleke appeared to be taking her best form into the Paris Games after securing silver at the Europeans in Rome, where she came home just nine hundreds of a second behind gold medallist Natalia Kaczmarek.
It was the Polish athlete who would then deny the Dubliner a place on the Olympic podium as Kaczmarek took bronze, however, on reflection, Adeleke is overall pleased by the progress she made throughout her first year as a professional.
Adeleke is already back in training at her base in Austin, Texas and all roads lead to the 2025 World Championships for the Irish 400m record holder.
That particular event is still nine months away, taking place in Tokyo next September, however, Adeleke says that everything she is doing is focused on a World medal.
Adeleke is set to skip the majority of the indoor season while her full focus is now firmly on the 400m discipline, while stating that the 200m remains a "possibility"; the summer will be dominated by Diamond League events, before the pinnacle of the season in September at the Japan-hosted Worlds.
"I'm training mainly for the 400 now and trying to get all my strength training in, and it’s crucial to build that foundation, so that’s what we are focused on right now," said Adeleke, speaking to the media on Monday.
"This is the time where I need to