At the halfway mark in Rhasidat Adeleke’s comeback race over 400 metres, everything appeared to be going according to plan. What happened from there will need to be addressed if she is to have any real impact this season.One year to the day since her last individual 400m, a visibly race-stale Adeleke finished a distant ninth at the Pre Classic in Eugene, Oregon, on Friday night. Her time of 52.26 was more than three seconds outside her Irish record – and her slowest time since first properly moving up to 400m at the start of 2022.Adeleke did start out reasonably aggressive over the first 150m, running in lane three, and was still holding up well at the 200m mark. The Dublin sprinter then started to lose ground on the runners outside her around the top bend. Coming into the homestretch in seventh, Adeleke then faded further in the last 50m to finish ninth and last, the only runner not to break 52 seconds.Her 52.26 was also well outside the 51.20 standard for the European Championships in Birmingham next month. With the qualification deadline of July 26th falling on the same day as the National Championships in Santry, Adeleke still has some time to play with. Her next race is set for the Monaco Diamond League meeting on Friday evening. She will take on another world-class field there, including Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who ran 48.48 to smash the Diamond League record in Paris last weekend. If Adeleke can improve on the latter part of her race, that 51.20 should be within reach. Physically, there didn’t appear to be any issues in Eugene. There were, however, big gaps to the leading women. Dejanea Oakley from Jamaica, running in the colours of the University of Georgia, blasted through the last 50m to take the win in 49.64, in her first Diamond League meeting appearance. The 22-year-old had broken the US Collegiate record at the same Hayward Field arena only three weeks ago, clocking a sensational 48.79 seconds to win the NCAA title.Interestingly, Oakley also attended the University of Texas at Austin, training under Adeleke’s coach Edrick Floréal, before transferring to the University of Georgia in 2024, where her trajectory has clearly soared. Oakley’s training partner, Aaliyah Butler from the US, was the only other woman in the field to break 50 seconds on Friday night, finishing in 49.97, with Jamaica’s Stacey Ann Williams third in 50.12.Adeleke has good memories of Monaco, winning there in 2024 in 49.17 seconds. That was her second-fastest time after her Irish record of 49.07, which was set at the 2024 European Championships in Rome, when winning silver. For now, those times appear a long way off as she works her way back from the injuries that cut short her 2025 season.Sharlene Mawdsley improved her best to 50.06 seconds when finishing fifth in her Diamond League debut in Paris last weekend. Photograph: Sona Maleterova/Getty Images Sharlene Mawdsley has run well inside the European qualifying time in all five of her 400m races so far this season, improving her best to 50.06 seconds when finishing fifth in her Diamond League debut in Paris last weekend – a time that currently ranks her fifth fastest in Europe.That sort of progress has now rewarded Mawdsley with her first professional contract with Nike. The Tipperary athlete announced the deal over the weekend in association with her agency, Melbourne Track Club.Sarah Healy was also in action on night two of the Pre Classic on Saturday, running well to finish a close seventh in a stacked women’s mile, her time of 4:18.49 exactly one second behind Nikki Hiltz from the US.Hiltz stunned the world-class field, including world champion Faith Kipyegon, when winning in 4:17.49, with Kipyegon third in 4:17.80. Healy finished just ahead of her training partner Georgia Hunter Bell from Britain, despite getting a little boxed in entering the homestretch.