Rhasidat Adeleke claims fourth in World 400m final

Rhasidat Adeleke has claimed fourth place in the 400 metre final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

For the second night running, after Ciara Mageean in the 1500m, an Irish woman finishes just outside the medals in a track final.

Running in lane four, the NCAA champion had a solid start before finding her rhythm down the back straight.

Down the home stretch she was in third spot for a time before being overtaken by Sada Williams of Barbados, whose time of 49.60 seconds was just over half a second ahead of Adeleke, who clocked a time of 50.13

Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic) took gold ahead of Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland.

Paulino won in a national record time of 48.76, with Kaczmarek running 49.57.

Adeleke ran a courageous race to bring herself into contention off the last bend, but couldn't hold off back-to-back bronze medallist Williams.

Her NCAA gold medal time of 49.20 would have been enough for silver here, but it's possible a long season took its toll as the Irish record holder faded in the final 50 metres.

It capped a notable night for Ireland on the track in the Hungarian capital, after Sarah Lavin broke Derval O'Rourke's 100m hurdle national record to finish fifth in her semi-final.

Adeleke booked her spot in the final with a sub-50 second run in Monday's semi-final, powering home in the home stretch to take second place behind Paulino.

The Irish record holder had said she change her race strategy to challenge for a medal in the final. The Tallaght sensation advanced as an automatic qualifier after finishing second in her semi-final in a time of 49.87, becoming the first Irish sprint finalist at a World Championships since David Gillick and O'Rourke in 2009.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport's Greg Allen after the