Today will define the report card of Irish athletics at the Olympic Games for the next four years.
Favourable outcomes for our athletes today and the picture is rosy, while a black day could see the post-mortem ordered almost immediately.
And most of the responsibility for the outcome rests on the shoulders of a 22-year-old woman from Tallaght who is hoped will deliver Ireland’s first Olympic track medal in 24 years.
Many who should have known better before the Games saw Rhasidat Adeleke as a shoo-in for a podium place in the women’s 400m, maybe even a gold medal.
A comfortable first-round victory only added fuel to the fire, especially for those sitting on comfortable couches in Donnybrook, Dublin 4.
However, the harsh realities of global one-lap running were never better exposed than in Wednesday evening’s semi-finals.
Drawn in lane eight, Adeleke soon found herself being caught by the athlete in the lane immediately inside her.
That seemed to unnerve her, but despite not showing her usual fluency, Adeleke was able to grab the vital runner-up spot to ensure her safe passage to this evening’s final.
“It was very messy, it was a very messy race,” Adeleke told RTÉ in the mixed zone.
“I’m just excited that I’m able to get into the final and fix everything for when I do get into the final.”
Adeleke’s time of 49.95 was slower than expected from her and she will no doubt have noticed the effortless manner in which 2019 world champion Salwa Eid Naser went on to win in 49.08.
Mission accomplished – a spot in the final – but ominously the Irish record-holder did not come out to meet the press as she would usually do. Instead, it seems she received medical attention.
Team Ireland media manager Heather Boyle assured that Adeleke was simply suffering from her exertions and there were no symptoms of any illness beforehand. She confirmed there was no reason to fear she would not be able to take her place in tonight’s final.
The other two semi-finals were equally ruthless with world number one this year Nickisha Pryce eliminated in the second race won by world champion Marileidy Paulino in 49.21.
The third race, taken by European champion Natalia Kaczmarek in 49.45, was arguably even more intense with three women breaking 50 seconds.
Adeleke is sixth fastest of the eight finalists and has drawn lane four for the final. Paulino is in six, immediately inside Kaczmarek with Naser in lane eight. Anyone could win this one as we saw with Cole Hocker in the 1500m earlier this week. Let us hope it is Adeleke.
Mark English and Sarah Lavin both face semi-finals of their respective events after impressing in their respective opening rounds on Wednesday.
English goes in the first semi-final of the 800m, which includes favourite for the gold medal Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati, Britain’s Ben Pattison and Swede Andreas Kramer.
Although he ran an Irish record of 1:44.53 last month, the Letterkenny man is still the slowest in the field on times.
World champion Marco Arop, Kenya’s Kinyamal and European champion Gabriel Tual are all in the second heat.
The third race is the most intimidating of all, with another Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi, Belgium’s Eliott Crestan, and Spain’s Mohamed Attaoui. All have run under 1:43.
English is followed on the track by Sarah Lavin, but unfortunately the line-ups for the 100m hurdles semi-finals were not yet finalised at time of writing.
Usual conditions apply in both English’s 800m and Lavin’s 100m hurdles, first two across the line in each race and the two fastest non-automatic qualifiers overall will feature in the final.
The women’s 4 x 400m kicks off the action this morning for the Irish.
There was some controversy created by one of those pundits on comfortable couches when it was suggested that Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker should forego their repechage races on Tuesday to save themselves for the relay.
This was met with some kickback from both women, especially Becker who ran her second fastest time ever for second place in her repechage.
Ireland is drawn in the second heat of two against the Netherlands, Poland and Jamaica, all with proven records. Without Adeleke, it will be an uphill struggle for the Irish girls to make the final, even given they were European silver medallists just weeks ago.
Kate O’Connor will also be completing the heptathlon today. The Dundalk woman had a mixed opening morning yesterday being well off her best in the 100m hurdles but recovering well with a season’s best in the high jump.
The 23-year-old clocked 14.08 in the 100m hurdles which was well down on the 13.94 she ran in May.
That left her trailing at the back of the 22-strong field but a season’s best of 1.77m in the high jump, a score of 13.79m in the shot put and a 24.77 showing in the 200m gave her 2629 points and moved her up to 19th overall with a total of 3596 points.
O’Connor faces three events today, namely the long jump, javelin throw, and 800m.
