Women's 400m Euro final LIVE as Adeleke and Mawdsley race for ...

The 20-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough debut senior championships and will only be better for the experience as she chases down qualification for the Paris Olympics.

"I was ranked a lot lower than this coming in so I'm delighted to make the final," said the Cork woman. "I was close to coming eighth, which would have given me another three throws, but I still wasn't massively far off my PB.

"But for my first senior international I couldn't have asked for much more."

To put @rhasidatadeleke magnificent winning Record performance into context .. the girl who won had to break the Polish record set in 1976 by a woman who won 3 Olympic 2 & 3 and is the only athlete in history to hold the World Records for 100, 200 & 400m! https://t.co/Buhjza5YHB

‘You always reach for a bit more than your capable of…I learned a lot from that race’ – A disappointed @sharlenem229 talks to @DavidGillick after her 400m final #Roma2024Watch on @RTE2 & @RTEplayer pic.twitter.com/s4nOGSpw4O

‘This is my first 400m event of the year and a PB…I’m really excited for the rest of the year’ – Rhasidat Adeleke says after initial disappointment, she is proud of her silver medal with the Olympics on the horizon#Roma2024Watch on @RTE2 & @RTEplayer pic.twitter.com/F9CyqXZ6HE

While disappointed not to win gold, this is Rhasidat Adeleke's first podium finish at senior international level and she will receive her silver medal at the stadium tonight.

Of course she is already a gold medal winner, having played a massive part in the 4x400m mixed relay team's triumph.

"I was like, 'don't die! Legs, don't give up on me!'

"Maybe that's what comes from my third round in the competition. In the mixed relay, going out that fast and battling to the end, I felt it the next day and then I had the (400m) heats, and my legs were a bit heavy.

"So I'm just really, really happy, I'm really blesesed, I give all grace to God, my friends, my family, my support team, Athletics Ireland and all the fans who are cheering me on, everybody because I wanted the gold, I got silver, I can't complain."

"Honestly, when I crossed the line and I came second I was a bit devastated. I really wanted it but as my coach said, we've been training through this competition so to even come out here and run a PB, 49.0, I'm really excited. This is my first 400m competition of the year as well, so I'm really excited.

"My coach has been training us through this whole competition, he says Paris is the goal so whatever we can do here, we can do but we've been training throughout and we'll continue training really hard for the next couple of weeks and hopefully when it's time for Paris, I'll be ready.

"I honestly just wanted to stick with the pace and make sure I always stayed in contention and not let her get too far ahead. I knew around 200 there was a bigger gap than I liked so I started to move, maybe a bit too early and maybe I should have waited a little bit, but as I said this is my first 400 competition back and I'm going to be learning each time."

‘Incredible race… Natalia Kaczmarek was just that little bit better’ - @soniaagrith, @rm_heffernanand @dervalorourke reflect on Rhasidat Adeleke's silver medal performance #Roma2024Watch on @RTE2 & @RTEplayer pic.twitter.com/yrqtuqXfYx

SILVER for Rhasidat Adeleke with a PB of 49.07) in the women’s 400m final with Sharlene Mawdsley seventh #Roma2024Watch on @RTE2 & @RTEplayer pic.twitter.com/aYR0SPEID3

"Yeah I feel good, I think I just gave up completely in the last 50, there was a lot of going on around me and it was a bit of a lack of concentration but I was delighted to see that Rhasidat won the silver.

"I would say I was happy to have got into that final but you always reach for more than you are capable of, but I think when the girl on the inside came up on me I was a bit shocked and didn't know how to reac.

"It's a bit of unexperience but I have a lot to learn from that race. There's no excuse for just giving up, you have to run through the line. Disappointed with myself for that, I wanted to go out and not have regrets. I have a small few but hopefully next time I can be better.

"We've still the women's relay to go and then I'll go back and reassess my plans for the year."

The Dubliner has never run faster than tonight but she met her match in her Polish rival, who also ran a PB. But Rhasidat will build on this now with the Paris Olympics to come in only a few weeks time.

As was predicted, Rhasidat Adeleke's main rival was world silver medallist Natalia Kaczmarek and while the Dubliner got onto her opponent's shoulder down the final straight, she was just beaten to the line. Adeleke finished in a time of 49.07 to the winner's 49.98. Sharlene Mawdsley finished in eight place in a time of 51.59.

The Dubliner is just pipped at the post by her Polish rival Kaczmarek

The women's 400m final begins

The 400m finalists emerge from the tunnel into the Stadio Olimpico. A composed looking Sharlene Mawdsley smiles and waves as she enters the arena for her first individual senior championship final at international level and Rhasidat Adeleke follows, blowing kisses to the crowd as she goes for gold.

Ahead of the women's decider, the men's 400m final is a cracker and it is Belgium's Alexander Doom -who was chased down by Ireland's Thomas Barr in the 4x400m relay final - who beats GB's Charlie Dobson to gold in a championship record time of 44.15

Rhasidat Adeleke, running in lane 6, will have her main rival for gold Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland outside her. Sharlene Mawdsley has been drawn in lane 4.

‘If Rhasidat nails her performance and gets away, she can win a medal’ - @soniaagrith, @rm_heffernan and @dervalorourke look ahead to tonight’s women’s 400m final where Adekleke and Mawdsley are both in action #roma2024 pic.twitter.com/WAg4hkTDQ4

While most of the focus is all on the women's 400m final tonight, there is another Irish competitor in action - West Cork's Nicola Tuthill - in the women's Hammer final that gets underway at 8.33pm Irish time.

The 20-year-old is the first Irish woman to make a major senior championships final in the event since 2007.

Andrew Coscoran made it through to Wednesday's 1500m final but otherwise it was a disappointing morning for Ireland's athletes at the Stadio Olimpico.

After striking gold in the 400m mixed relay final on Friday, Thomas Barr won his 400m hurdles heat on Sunday but didn't make it into the final as he finished third in his semi-final in a time of 49.61.

With two automatically going through from the three semi-finals, the Waterford veteran had to wait and see if he made it but his time wasn't good enough as he finished 11th overall.

Barr could be in action in Rome again tomorrow as part of the men's 4x400m relay team's opening round effort, but that will depend on how he is feeling and how he has recovered.

Cork's Phil Healy was fifth in her 200m heat in a time of 23.51 and just missed out on a semi-final place. She will participate in the women's 4X400m relay tomorrow morning.

Tyrone teenager Nick Griggs finished 14th in his 1500m (3:46.66) in what is only his second major championships.

Another Cork woman, Louise Shanahan, was sixth in her tough 800m heat in a time of 2:04.81, which wasn't enough to get her into her second consecutive European final.

Balbriggan's Coscoran, however, looked good in booking his place in the 1500m final - he finished fifth in his heat in a time of 3:38.52 to secure one of the six automatic places on offer.

Tonight's 400m final could well come down to a head to head duel between Tallaght's finest Rhasidat Adeleke and Natalia Kaczmarek. While Adeleke finished just outside the medals in last year's World Championships, the Polish athlete picked up a silver medal. Ireland's main hope for a third gold medal in four days of these European Championships is expected to start fast and Adeleke will look to build enough of a lead to see off Kaczmarek's trademark strong finish. However Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands, who won the second semi-final on Sunday evening, is also in the mix, along with Britain’s Laviai Nielsen - and Ireland's other medal hope, Sharlene Mawdsley, can't be discounted.

If Rhasidat and Sharlene need any more inspiration for their 400m final tonight, the sight of Ciara Mageean's tears of joy after receiving her gold medal should do nicely. Here is the 1500m star talking to RTE's David Gillick after the medal ceremony in Rome.

‘It’s absolutely amazing…a dream come true’ – European champion Ciara Mageean after her medal ceremony in Rome #roma2024 pic.twitter.com/4cJnYHWEH9

Hello everybody and welcome to our live coverage of the European Athletics Championship.

The 400m Women's final is where our focus will mainly be on this evening as Sharlene Mawdsley and Rhasidat Adeleke go head-to-head in what could be a battle of the Irish for the ages.

The pair will be looking emulate Ciara Mageean's golden performance in the 1500m last night when the Portaferry flyer became the first Irish athlete to win a gold medal in an individual event at the European Championships since the great Sonia O'Sullivan's double in Budapest over a quarter of a century ago.

Adeleke and Mawdsley have already tasted gold at this meet as part of Ireland's 4x400m mixed relay team and will complete a famous double with a win tonight.

We'll be building up to the big race with previews and analysis right here in our blog.