Naser takes third in Silesia

Bahraini sprinter runs season-best 49.57 behind Paulino

TDT | Manama

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Bahraini sprinter Salwa Eid Naser cut nearly two seconds from her previous Diamond League 400m time this season as she took third in Poland yesterday, clocking 49.57 seconds behind Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino.

The 28-year-old finished behind Paulino, the Dominican world No 1, who won in 48.87 at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Chorzów. Jamaica's Nickisha Pryce was second in 49.49, with Naser only eight hundredths behind her and Poland's Natalia Bukowiecka next across the line.

The run was Naser's best of the season and a sharp step up from her last Diamond League 400m outing, when she finished seventh in 51.56 at Shaoxing in China in May.

It also brought another chapter in her growing rivalry with Paulino.

Naser beat the Dominican at last year's Diamond League Final in Zurich, running 48.70 to take her third Diamond League crown. Paulino was second in 49.23.

This year, though, Paulino has been hard to stop. Yesterday's win was her fifth Diamond League 400m victory of the season, while she has also run 48.48 in Paris, the fastest time ever recorded in a Diamond League race.

The 29-year-old is the Paris 2024 Olympic champion, a two-time world champion and has a personal best of 47.98.

Naser's third place gave her six Diamond League points and took her season total to eight. With few appearances on the circuit this year, she is set to miss an automatic place in the Diamond League Final in Brussels on September 4 and 5.

A wildcard could still put her in the race, though none has been confirmed.

Naser remains one of the fastest 400m runners in history. She won the world title in Doha in 2019 in 48.14, setting Bahraini and Asian records.

She then won Olympic silver at Paris 2024 in 48.53 and took bronze at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo in 48.19.

The Silesia meeting at Stadion Slaski was one of the last Diamond League stops before the season-ending final in Brussels.