The Spitzen Leichtathletik meeting in Lucerne is not necessarily renowned as an essential stop on the summer athletics circuit, despite its magnificent lakeside setting in central Switzerland, but it is perhaps the perfect choice to satisfy the redefined goals of Rhasidat Adeleke.After the news earlier this week that Adeleke had withdrawn from the 400m at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco on Friday evening, there was obvious concern around when – or indeed if – she would race again this summer. With the qualification window for next month’s European Championships in Birmingham closing in just over a fortnight there wasn’t much time to play around with either.There was some relief then with confirmation earlier on Friday that Adeleke would race the 200m in Lucerne next Thursday evening, followed two days later by a 400m at the KBC Night of Athletics meeting in Heusden-Zolder in Belgium. If both those races go anywhere close to plan, Adeleke will then return home to compete at the National Track and Field Championships at the Morton Stadium in Santry the following weekend, July 25th-26th.By her own admission, Adeleke found her comeback 400m race at the Diamond League meeting in Eugene last weekend “beyond rough”, the Dublin sprinter finishing a distant ninth and last in 52.26, over three seconds outside her Irish record and her slowest time since first moving up to 400m from the shorter sprint distances at the start of 2022.After that performance, her first individual 400m in exactly a year, it made little or no sense for Adeleke to take on another Diamond League field in Monaco. Not when the start list included Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who ran 48.48 to smash the Diamond League record in Paris last month.Adeleke does have good memories of Monaco, winning there in 2024 in 49.17 seconds, her second fastest time after her Irish record of 49.07 set at the 2024 European Championships in Rome, when winning silver. However, clearly short of the form required to mix with that kind of company, Adeleke’s goal now is simply to qualify for Birmingham this time around. Rhasidat Adeleke. Photograph: Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images Both part of the World Athletics Continental Tour, the Spitzen Leichtathletik meeting and Heusden-Zolder will also provide Adeleke with the level of competition she needs right now.Adeleke’s Irish 200m record of 22.34 was set in 2023, indeed the best part of Adeleke’s race in Eugene last weekend was her first 200m. Running in lane three, she only started to lose ground on the runners outside of her around the top bend, before fading further in the last 50m.[ Rhasidat Adeleke withdraws from Monaco Diamond League 400m raceOpens in new window ]The 400m standard for Birmingham is 51.20, a time the 23-year-old Adeleke would previously have run without breaking sweat. In her first full season of 400m running, at age 19, she ran 50.53 to finish fourth at the 2022 European Championships in Munich. If that qualification box can be ticked off at the KBC Night of Athletics meeting next Saturday it could yet mark a sort of turning point in her summer.In an Instagram post last Sunday evening, Adeleke wrote: “First 400 in a year – beyond rough. It’s easy to share the wins, but it’s hard to be vulnerable – displaying the injuries, bad days and challenges. No excuses or seeking pity, just reality. But finally made it to the line, will keep building from here.”She also added: “I appreciate those that continuously rock with me!”She did run 22.86 seconds for the 200m at her training base in Texas on April 30th, just off the required 22.85 standard for the Europeans, a time which certainly looks within reach.Adeleke skipped last year’s National Championships at Santry due to injury and two weeks later ended her season completely, missing the World Championships in Tokyo in September. The second day of competition at Santry also marks the closing date for Birmingham qualification, the European Championships starting two weeks later, on Monday, August 10th.She’s based herself in London for the time being, and even if her individual goals aren’t satisfied over the next few weeks, there’s still the option of the women’s 4x400m relay in Birmingham. Despite winning gold in the mixed 4x400m in Rome two years ago, with Adeleke running the second leg, Ireland recently slipped outside the eight-team qualification quota.Sharlene Mawdsley. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho 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 month – a time which still ranks her fifth fastest in Europe. With Adeleke on board for the women’s relay, there’d be obvious medal potential once again.Given her series of setbacks since finishing fourth at the Paris Olympics, there has been some comment around whether Adeleke is still being best served by her training environment at the University of Texas at Austin, under coach Edrick Floréal. It was notable too that Dejanea Oakley from Jamaica, who won in Eugene last weekend in 49.64, her first appearance in the Diamond League, had previously attended Texas, before transferring to the University of Georgia in 2024, where her trajectory has since soared.But Adeleke’s own trajectory at Texas, starting from January 2021, was more or less flawless up to the Paris Olympics, and it’s probably still too soon to decide whether or not she needs to make any major changes to her training environment.[ Sonia O’Sullivan: Don’t expect too much from Rhasidat Adeleke on her return to racingOpens in new window ]