Ireland medal hope Rhasidat Adeleke comfortably won her 400m heat to ease into Wednesday’s semi-finals at the Olympic Games in Paris.

Adeleke, 21, had a big lead entering the finishing straight and was able to jog the final 30 metres as she took victory in 50.09 seconds.

Despite turning off the power in the closing stages, the Dublin athlete still finished 0.26 seconds ahead of US athlete Alexis Holmes.

Adeleke, who finished second at the European Championships in June after placing fourth at last season’s World Championships, is the third fastest this season of the 400m entries at the Games.

“It was really fun,” Adeleke told BBC Sport after the heat.

“The track feels really good, and the stands are absolutely packed at this time of day but it’s the Olympic Games – what can you say!”.

Sharlene Mawdsley produced a personal best of 50.71 seconds and while her fourth place wasn’t enough to secure direction progression to Wednesday’s semi-finals she looks capable of reaching the penultimate stage via the repechage route.

The Irishwoman was unfortunate to be drawn in the same heat as gold medal favourite Marileidy Paulinho of the Dominican Republic who won in 49.42 seconds ahead of USA’s Aaliyah Butler (50.42) and Austria’s Susanne Gogl-Walli (50.68).