Rhasidat Adeleke (Tallaght A.C.) has obliterated her own Irish 400m record at the NCAA Division 1 Prelims West in Sacramento, California in the early hours of yesterday morning (May 28th).
Competing for a place in next month’s NCAA Finals in Austin, Adeleke produced a scintillating quarter-final performance to advance with ease, winning her race in an extraordinary time of 49.54.
4⃣9⃣.5⃣4⃣
Another Irish 400m Record for Rhasidat Adeleke 🇮🇪
She clocks 49.54 to qualify for the NCAA T&F Championships in Austin and does it in some style for @TexasTFXC 💥
It would've won her silver at last year's world 400m final 🤯https://t.co/QxNi1m34VK
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) May 28, 2023
The University of Texas student knocked 0.36 off her previous national record in the process, which she had set in mid-April when she ran 49.90 at the Tom Jones Invitational in Florida.
Her latest record is another spectacular step forward in the 20-year-old’s remarkable young career as she moves into the top fifty on the world all-time list for the event, now sitting in 45th.
The time is also the third fastest in the world so far this year and would have been good enough for silver at the last World Championships in Oregon in July 2022 and fourth in the Tokyo Olympic final the year previous.
Britton Wilson (Arkansas) advances to the finals as the only woman faster than Adeleke. The NCAA record holder won her quarter-final in a time of 49.51.
Adeleke will have her eyes firmly set on another individual NCAA medal in two weeks’ time after winning silver at the Indoor Championships in back in February.