Paris looms as Rhasidat Adeleke seeks further improvements

With 2023 drawing to a close, Irish running sensation Rhasidat Adeleke has finally allowed herself the time to reflect on her performances on the track over the last 12 months.

To give the Tallaght woman her dues, it probably takes a period of downtime around Christmas to take in the enormity of everything she has achieved.

At one point early in the year it seemed like the 21-year-old was breaking a national record every time she laced up the runners such was the frequency with which the 200m and 400m records tumbled, indoors initially, and later outdoors.

Her 200m indoor record in New Mexico was the fastest time by a European woman since 2003, followed by the first sub-50 second 400m by an Irish woman.

Another first for an Irish sprinter, male or female, was an NCAA title with Texas, before deciding to turn professional in July. In her first professional race, a 200m in Hungary, she finished second only to Jamaica's Shericka Jackson, the second fastest woman in history at that distance.

At the World Championships in Budapest in August she scorched into the 400m final where she ranked fifth and finished fourth, less than half a second off the podium.

It was the 39th race of her exhaustingly long season.

48.76 national record