Adeleke misses out on Olympic medal in 400m final

Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke has narrowly missed out on a medal in her debut Olympics after finishing in fourth place in the final of the 400 metres.

The race was won by Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic in an Olympic record of 48.17 seconds, while Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain claimed silver.

Adeleke was third coming out of the final bend but was caught by Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek on the run to the line.

The Irish sprinter missed out on the podium by just 0.3 seconds.

Adeleke, who has had a breakthrough year, was aiming to become the first Irish athlete to win a track medal at the Olympics since Sonia O’Sullivan claimed a silver medal at the 2000 Games in Sydney.

There had been strong hopes that Adeleke could deliver on the sport's biggest stage after qualifying fastest from her heat and she was second quickest in her semi-final.

The Dubliner received the loudest cheer as she entered the track at the Stade de France, which had been saturated by a downpour an hour before her race.

Running from lane four, she made a strong start and was third after the opening 200 metres.

She held her position as she came around the final bend, but Kaczmarek came storming through with 60 metres to go and had enough to fend off Adeleke on the line.