Rhasidat Adeleke ticked all the boxes as she comfortably qualified for the semi-finals of the 400m, said the RTÉ Sport panel.
The Dubliner got off to a fast start and came home in first place in heat six, easing up in the final 50 metres, in a time of 50.09 at the Stade de France in Paris on Monday morning.
"She delivered in what she's meant to do in the first round," said Rob Heffernan, a bronze medallist race walker from London 2012.
"She needs to come through it, seamless, she’s a class apart.
"She’s all the boxes ticked up to this point so it’s not going to be a surprise that she’s this strong in the 400.
"She actually went out really strong because the American girl [Alexis Holmes] has still run 49.7 [previously] so she’s a class athlete.
"Rhasidat went out and buried whatever doubt she had early in the race.
"She was like a cheetah the way she was looking around."
Three-time Olympian Derval O’Rourke was also impressed with the 21-year-old's performance.
She said: "The game plan to me looks like she went through the first 200 almost at a race pace, practicing that race pace, that judgement and then once she hit 150 to go, it’s just about being efficient, starting to just cruise it down, really relaxed in the last 100.
"Even the wherewithal to look around...she 21, she’s going into this with a chance of a medal but she’s smart enough to know how deep this field is. She didn’t put a foot wrong and made it look easy."
Meanwhile, co-commentator Dave Matthews spotted a slight change in the Irish record-holder's technique.
"I saw a difference in her top half, much more relaxed from the waist up," Matthews, who represented Ireland at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, said.
"Rhasidat had a tendency to roll when fatigued – now I’m not saying she fatigued or under any sort of pressure in that race – but in her natural running style, she used to have a slight hunch in the shoulders and a rolling effort and that was exasperated when she tired, which is only natural at the end of a 400m.
"Her top half is much more smooth, much more linear, the arms are moving linear rather than across the body.
"She’ll find that she’s propelling herself in a more linear fashion.
"She just looked so at ease and so impressive."
Adeleke will compete in the semi-finals on Wednesday, while team-mates Sharlene Mawdsley and Sophie Becker are set for the repechage.
"She ticked all the boxes and made it look easy" Derval O'Rourke and Rob Heffernan were hugely impressed by Rhasidat Adeleke's performance in winning her 400m heat and advancing to the semis
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 5, 2024
📺 Watch https://t.co/XnOP6grnB7
📱 Updates https://t.co/7J2WfVU0Tm#Paris2024 #olympics pic.twitter.com/ylTtpS2COg
Watch the 2024 Olympic Games with 14 hours of televised action on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player each day. Listen to extensive radio coverage on RTÉ Radio 1 and 2fm's Game On and follow each moment from Paris on RTÉ.ie, the RTÉ News app and all RTÉ digital platforms. Listen to the daily RTÉ Sport Olympics Podcast.
