Rhasidat Adeleke finishes season with third place in 400m at ...

Rhasidat Adeleke. (Photo by Marcin Golba/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Adeleke initially faced a frustrating sense of deja vu, having crossed the line fourth, but Olympic silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser, who’d finished third in 50.64, was soon disqualified for a lane infringement, upgrading Adeleke to third and netting her $7,000 (€6,300) in prize money.

On a cold night in the Belgian capital, fast times were never going to be on the table and Adeleke employed a strategy similar to what she did in the Olympic final. Despite having the best speed in the race, she was just fifth through the opening 100m, covered in 12.22, and she then moved up to third at 200m, reached in 23.78.

She was still third at 300m, just inches behind Naser, but couldn’t match the leaders down the home straight and her last 50 metres showed signs of what’s been a long, exhausting season. While it was a performance – and a time – that she won’t be pleased with, a third-place finish in her debut at the Diamond League final caps another breakthrough year for the Dubliner, who looks well on track to claim individual medals at global level in the years ahead.

She smashed Irish records over 60m, 200m and 300m indoors and over 100m and 400m outdoors. In May, she helped Ireland to bronze medals in the mixed 4x400m at the World Relays and won silver in both the 400m and women’s 4x400m at the Europeans in June, along with gold in the mixed 4x400m.

Adeleke was just 0.3 away from an individual 400m medal at the Olympics, her frustration about that race only heightened following another fourth-place finish in the women’s 4x400m, where she teamed up with Sophie Becker, Phil Healy and Sharlene Mawdsley to obliterate the Irish record, their time of 3:19.90 just 0.18 away from a medal.