Paris Olympics: Rhasidat Adeleke misses out on medal in 400m final

Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke has narrowly missed out on a medal in her debut Olympics after finishing in fourth place in the final of the 400 metres.

The race was won by Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic in an Olympic record of 48.17 seconds, while Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain claimed silver.

Adeleke was third coming out of the final bend but was caught by Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek on the run to the line.

The Irish sprinter missed out on the podium by just 0.3 seconds as she clocked 49.28 seconds – 0.21 outside her personal best set when she won silver also behind Kaczmarek at the European Championships in June.

Adeleke was aiming to become the first Irish track and field athlete to win an Olympic medal since walker Robert Heffernan’s bronze at London 2012 which was awarded retrospectively.

There had been strong hopes that Adeleke could deliver on the sport’s biggest stage after qualifying fastest from her heat and she was second quickest in her semi-final.

The Dubliner received the loudest cheer as she entered the track at the Stade de France, which had been saturated by a downpour an hour before her race.

Running from lane four, she made a strong start and was third after the opening 200 metres.

She held her position as she came around the final bend, but Kaczmarek came storming through with 60 metres to go and had enough to fend off Adeleke on the line.

Amber Anning almost passed Adeleke for fourth position but the Team GB athlete missed out by just 0.01 seconds.

After her disappointment, Irish athletics supporters will now be waiting to see whether Adeleke competes in Saturday’s 4x400m women’s relay final after missing the qualification round on Friday morning.

Her presence could give the European Championships silver medallists an outside chance at pushing for a podium position.