06-07-2025
Diamond League round-up: Rhasidat Adeleke fourth again over 400m while Orla Comerford sprints to 100m para win
Fellow Dubliners Sarah Healy and Orla Comerford both produced strong runs at the same meeting, with Healy finishing seventh over 1500m in 3:57.20 and Comerford sprinting to victory in the mixed class para 100m in 12.14.
With 10 weeks until the World Championships in Tokyo, Adeleke's form remains well off where it was through the previous two summers and she was unable to replicate the 50.42 she clocked in Oslo last month and the 50.48 she ran in Stockholm. Her Irish record remains the 49.07 she ran to win the European silver medal in Rome last year.
Pitched in against some of the world's best, she held her own through the opening half but was visibly lacking her usual fluidity and was unable to land any sort of blow against McLaughlin-Levrone, who coasted to victory with fellow US athletes Aaliyah Butler (49.86) and Isabella Whittaker (50.81) following her home.
With swirling winds in Hayward Field, times were mediocre throughout the field, but the size of the gap to the leaders was a reminder for Adeleke of how much distance she will need to make up if she's to contend for her first individual global medal in Tokyo.
Healy, meanwhile, produced another strong showing in what's been the season of her career, the 24-year-old clocking 3:57.20 to finish seventh in the 1500m, just outside her PB of 3:57.15 which she set in Paris last month. Kenya's Faith Kipyegon produced another masterclass out front, the three-time Olympic champion breaking her own world record with a superb final lap, clocking 3:48.68.
There was another world record in the women's 5000m where Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet of Kenya clocked 13:58.06.
Comerford, the Paralympic bronze medallist in the T13 (visually impaired) category, was a dominant winner of the mixed para 100m, clocking 12.14 to come home well clear of US sprinter Brittni Mason (12.40), but she wasn't pleased with her time which was well down on the PB of 11.87 she ran to win at the Oslo Diamond League.
'I came in feeling really good, strong, confident, and it's a real honour to be invited,' she said. 'Unfortunately the performance wasn't really there for me today, I had a really bad stumble out of the blocks but no excuses. We'll go back to the drawing board and make sure that when we're stepping out next time we're looking towards those personal bests, world records. I'm still very honoured and privileged to take the win.' Ireland was also represented in the T54 (wheelchair) 800m, with Shauna Bocquet finishing sixth in 1:55.76.
Meanwhile at the National U-20 and U-23 Championships in Tullamore, Precious Akpe-Moses – the younger sister of former European U-20 100m champion Gina Akpe-Moses – was among the stars, winning the U-20 100m in 11.64 and setting a championship record of 23.66 over 200m.
Sean Doggett (Athenry AC) was the standout performer in a stacked U-20 men's 400m, winning in 47.08, while rising star Nick Griggs made a triumphant return to national championship action, winning the U-23 800m in 1:52.46.
