Repeat of Olympic 400m final as Adeleke finishes fourth
It was a repeat of the women's 400m Olympic final as Rhasidat Adeleke faded in the second half of her Diamond League meet in Silesia, Poland to finish fourth.
Just over a fortnight on from her exploits in the women's 4x400m relay, and 17 days after being edged out of a podium position in the individual 400m final, the 21-year-old was back in action as her 2024 season draws to a close.
With seven of the eight finalists from the Olympic final competing in Poland - only Great Britain's Amber Anning was missing - it was a high quality field, with the Tallaght sprinter stationed in lane seven.
Adeleke was quick out of the blocks, with her customary strong first 200m once again to the fore as she eased past Lieke Klaver and Sada Williams on her outside.
Hitting the bend however, she was reeled in by the big-hitters from Paris, with Marileidy Paulino again asserting her dominance in the event with a blistering final 100m to repeat her winning exploits in Paris in time of 48.66.
Bahrain's Salwa Eid Nasser and Poland's European champion Natalia Kaczmarek, who has now got the better of Adeleke in all six races they have competed in - again took second and third respectively.
Adeleke struggled coming down the stretch to maintain her pace and had to settle for fourth, crossing the line just outside her Olympic time in 50 seconds flat, holding off the surge of Alexis Holmes in fifth.
Nasser's second-place finish comes on the back of another controversial period for the sprinter, with World Athletics announcing last week that Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA) had conducted itself "negligently and/or recklessly" in relation to anti-doping matters.
The Athletics Integrity Unit imposed several penalties, banning Bahrain from all World