Off-form Rhasidat Adeleke finishes fourth in Pre Classic 400m in Eugene
Rhasidat Adeleke
had to settle for fourth place over 400 metres in Saturday's Pre Classic meeting in Eugene, Oregon, her time of 51.33 seconds once again well outside her best.
At the ninth stop on the
Diamond League
circuit, staged at the famed Hayward Field, Adeleke started out cautiously, a small tapping around her knee suggesting she may be carrying a slight injury of late.
Coming into the homestretch in fifth, the 22-year-old held her form to move up to fourth, but finished some distance behind Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone from the US, who dominated the race to win in 49.43.
McLaughlin-Levrone was also off her best of 48.74, set two years ago, but the breezy conditions were not ideal. Aaliyah Butler took second in 49.86, with US team-mate Bella Whittaker third in 50.81.
Adeleke's opening Diamond League appearances in the 400m last month, in Oslo and then Stockholm, were also under par. She faded to sixth in the homestretch in the latter, running 50.48. She had run 50.42 to finish fourth in Oslo three nights before.
Another McLaughlin Masterclass 👌
📷Logan Hannigan-Downs for Diamond League AG
— Wanda Diamond League (@Diamond_League)
At 25, McLaughlin-Levrone is the Olympic and World champion in the 400m hurdles, the event in which she has lowered the world record on six occasions, and had requested the event in Eugene, which was not part of the Diamond League programme.
From the outset of this particularly long season, the World Championships in Tokyo still over two months away, Adeleke has been talking about timing things differently. However, her Irish record of 49.07, set in June of last year, is for now looking well out of reach.
Next up for the Dubliner is a trip to Monaco next Friday, where she scored her first Diamond League victory last year, running 49.17 seconds. Only this time she'll have the Olympic and World champion Marileidy Paulino for company.
Kenya's double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet has been knocking on world records already this summer, and delivered in style in Eugene, winning the 5,000m in 13:58.06. It marks the first sub-14 minute clocking on the track, taking down the 14:00.21 held by Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay.
Earlier, Ireland's Orla Comerford produced another excellent victory in the Para Athletics mixed-class 100m, winning in 12.14 seconds ahead of Brittni Mason from the US.
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