Rhasidat didn't race how I wanted, says Adeleke's Coach FlO
As good as it was, Edrick Floreal knows it can be even better. Rhasidat Adeleke’s coach is not a man to mince his words, to sugarcoat his message. So when the Canadian is asked to assess the 21-year-old’s European 400m final in Rome on Monday, he’ll tell you the same thing he told her that night.
“I need for her to get out a lot faster and execute better – it’s quite disappointing that she wasn’t more aggressive in the first 200m,” he says.
“Michael Johnson said it best: you become a great quarter-miler as you age and you become a great quarter-miler by attacking the first 200m.”
With seven weeks until the athletics gets under way at the Paris Olympics, that’s an assessment that will make Adeleke’s rivals sit up and take notice. Because that race in Rome, the fastest of her life, didn’t come close to exhausting her potential.
WANTING MORE: Coach Edrick Floreal Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images for IAAFAdeleke smashed her Irish record of 49.20, her 49.07 the second fastest time by a European this century, behind only the stunning 48.98 run by Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek to take gold. Still, it wasn’t perfect. Far from it, according to Floreal, and this is an area in which he and Adeleke have often had a difference of opinion ever since she enrolled at the University of Texas in 2021, when her focus shifted to the 400m.
“It’s just an old man trying to get through to a young person and trying to get them to believe in themselves,” he says. “We just have some battles on what I see and what she sees.”
Here is what he sees: Adeleke had by far the best raw speed in that 400m final, having run a wind-assisted 10.84-second 100m earlier this year and holding a 200m best of 22.34. Kaczmarek’s 200m PB is over a half a second slower than Adeleke’s at 22.86.
Floreal wanted Adeleke to utilise that to her advantage, believing that if she went through 200m in 22.9 or 23.0, it would not only be the most efficient way for her to race but also put pressure on her chief rival. But as soon as the gun fired, he was worried. “I knew it from the first step that she just didn’t feel comfortable (attacking the first 200m),” he says. “It was too slow.”
He wants Adeleke to follow a similar approach to Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the Olympic champion and world record holder in the 400m hurdles who Floreal used to coach at the University of Kentucky. “You get out hard in the beginning, use your speed to your advantage and use your strength to maintain the form at the end,” he says.
Adeleke hit halfway in 23.69, with Kazcmarek a yard ahead in 23.59. The Dubliner closed up around the bend, turning for home level. But the home straight is the strongest part of Kazcmarek’s race and the Pole – who’s five years older than Adeleke, with several more years of conditioning – edged Adeleke to victory with a stronger last 50m.
“That’s not her strength,” says Floreal of Adeleke. “We don’t really train like that. She doesn’t have the endurance strength that other people have so she needs to run in the way that’s conducive to her. The idea is that you gotta get the athlete to commit to running the way that’s most conducive to them doing well and she didn’t do that.”
If this seems harsh, given it was a lifetime best, then it’s a function of how much faith Floreal has in Adeleke’s ability. He cites the mixed relay last Friday, and how Adeleke ripped through 200m in a scorching 22.33 seconds – a kamikaze pace for most 400m runners. Yet she still managed to come back in 27.30. Similar happened at the World Relays in The Bahamas last month, Adeleke going to war with Dutch star Lieke Klaver over the opening 200m and splitting an astonishing 48.45, helping Ireland to bronze.
“The strength is there,” says Floreal. “It’s just a matter of trusting her strength and giving herself an opportunity to get out. It may hurt a little bit to do it the way she needs to do it.”
Rome was a remarkable event for Adeleke, who at just 21 became the first Irish athlete in history to win three medals at a single major championships. And she might only be getting started. Earlier in the year, Floreal told her she’d have to choose whether she wanted to run very well in Rome or run great in Paris. She chose Paris. “So the day before she left for the Euros, we had a really hard workout,” he says.
There was no backing off, no tapering, Floreal approaching the Europeans the way he did her other races: a means to an end.
“I believe in the athlete setting up the tone of what’s most important to them and build a programme based on what they really want, which is to do well in Paris. So she’s training through it and doesn’t really have the rest in her legs. I don’t really want to give her that yet, but I will give her that in Paris.”
Which brings us to another question.
In Rome, Ireland clocked 3:09.92 to win the mixed relay, a time that would’ve won a medal at the last four global championships, including the last Olympics. The heats and final of the mixed relay in Paris are on August 2-3, with the three 400m rounds on August 5, 7 and 9.
Will Adeleke race the mixed relay?
“To be honest, I’m not there yet (in deciding),” says Floreal. “I gotta see where she’s at. Ultimately, the focus will be on getting a medal as an individual. If I can put the relay in (her plan) in a way that plays to her strength so she’ll do well individually (then she will run) but I haven’t got to that point.”
Adeleke said her legs felt “a bit heavy” during her 400m semi-final on Sunday following her massive effort in the relay last Friday. Given Kaczmarek bypassed the relay, might that have been the difference between gold and silver?
“No, no, not at all,” says Floreal. “Rhasidat didn’t do what I asked her to do and what she’s capable of doing. I don’t really look at the other athlete. I just look at her and how she executes the race.”
MIXED BLESSING: Ireland’s Tom Barr, Rhasidat Adeleke, Sharlene Mawdsley and Chris O’Donnell celebrate with their gold medals Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Morgan TreacyAdeleke flew back to Texas yesterday, where she’ll put down a two-week training block before returning to Ireland for the nationals on June 29-30. She will then race in Budapest on July 9, in Monaco on July 12 and London on July 20. Then she’ll head to Paris for the big one. One of those races will be a 200m, with Floreal believing she can run under 22 seconds. “I’d like to see that to get her more comfortable to go out faster (over 400m),” he says.
With no NCAA racing commitments since turning professional last year, Adeleke has been able to focus on technical improvements like never before, with Floreal reshaping her mechanics, trying to make her move like a true sprinter. How is that project going?
“Very, very well,” he says. “You can tell.”
He’s been impressed by the professionalism and maturity the Dubliner has shown since turning pro, Adeleke juggling her media, sponsor and training demands seamlessly, with running now her full-time focus after she graduated from the University of Texas in May. Floreal says she is in “really good shape” right now and he knows that with a clean run over the coming weeks, she can be a faster athlete in Paris.
“The training is not based on resting and being fresh at any meet (before then),” he says. “My goal is for her to run 48-something and I believe 48-something will get a medal in Paris.”
Seven weeks left, and each one will be used wisely. Floreal may hold his protegee to high standards, but that’s what the road to potential greatness dictates. The past week was a thrill – for Adeleke and for Irish athletics – but now it’s back to the grind, with bigger prizes up ahead.
“We’re not there yet,” says Floreal. “There’s still more work to do.”
