Rhasidat Adeleke has enjoyed a welcome return to the track for the first time in seven months, breaking her own Irish indoor record over 300 metres at the Tyson Invitational meeting in Arkansas on Saturday night.
Adeleke clocked 36.30 seconds when finishing runner-up to Stacey Ann Williams from Jamaica, who set a meeting record of 35.92. With that Adeleke improved her previous record mark of 36.42, set at the Millrose Games in New York in 2024.
The Dublin sprinter had not raced anywhere since July of last year, when she ran the 200m at the London Diamond League. Three weeks later she cut short her season due to a number of recurring injuries, with that missing the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last September.
The 23-year-old had announced her intention to race only occasionally during the indoor season, and still looks set to skip the World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland next month. Although the 300m is a rarely raced distance, this result certainly suggests her winter training is going to plan.
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It is likely Adeleke will have at least one more indoor race, before turning her attention to the outdoor season, the main target of which will be the European Championships in Birmingham in August.
Also in the US, Lucy-May Sleeman continued her fine form at the Tiger Paw Invitational in North Carolina, running 7.28 for 60m, then setting a lifetime best of 23.68 over 200m.
At the Boston Valentine’s Meeting, Liam Lyons ran a mile best of 3:54.98, with Louis O’Loughlin becoming the 70th Irish athlete to break four minutes for mile, clocking 3:59.54. Jack O’Leary improved his 5,000m indoor best to 13:30.43, with Abdel Laadjel clocking 7:48.74 in the 3,000m, Charlie O’Donovan also running 7:49.06.
