Naser Reaches Ultimate Championship Final

TDT | Manama

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Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser secured her place in the women’s 400 metres final at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest yesterday.

The former world champion clocked 49.67 seconds to finish second in the opening heat behind Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who won in 49.58.

Jamaica’s Nickisha Pryce and Cuba’s Roxana Gomez claimed the remaining two qualifying places from the race.

Norway’s Henriette Jaeger led the second heat in 49.64, followed by Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands, American Aaliyah Butler and Chile’s Martina Weil.

Naser’s performance was the third-fastest across both races, leaving her just nine hundredths of a second behind Paulino ahead of today’s medal showdown.

The title will be decided at 7.08pm, Bahrain time, with the kingdom’s representative seeking to add another major honour to her distinguished career.

“On to the final, and I’m so grateful,” Naser said after the race. “Of course, I wanted to win, but I’ll take second place and keep fighting.

“This season has been amazing. It hasn’t been typical, but I’m grateful and happy. I love doing this.

“Last year was a long season. I raced a lot and didn’t finish until November, so this year I decided to take my time and enjoy it. Now I’m here.”

Her season’s best stands at 49.27, while her personal best of 48.14 remains the Asian and Bahraini record.

Kemi Adekoya had also appeared on the original entry list for the women’s 400m hurdles but is absent from the official start lists for today’s two heats. No reason for the change has been announced.

The three-day meeting has brought many of the world’s leading athletes to the Hungarian capital to compete across 28 disciplines for a share of a record $10million prize fund.