Naser Eighth in Budapest Final

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser finished eighth in the women's 400 metres final at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, Hungary, yesterday.

The former world champion and Paris 2024 Olympic silver-medallist clocked 50.22 seconds at Gyula Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre, having qualified with the third-fastest time of 49.67s in Friday's semi-finals.

Running from lane six, one lane inside reigning Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino, Naser made the fastest start and erased the stagger by the back straight.

She was level with the Netherlands' Lieke Klaver at halfway, while Paulino sat last.

The Dominican then accelerated around the final bend, moving to the front with around 70m remaining before pulling clear down the home straight. Naser was uncharacteristically unable to stay in contention and eventually crossed the line last in the eight-woman field.

Paulino won in 49.07s, extending her winning streak over 400m to 12 races and maintaining her unbeaten record across all events this year.

Norway's European champion Henriette Jaeger finished strongly to take silver in 49.28s, while Jamaica's Nickisha Pryce secured bronze in 49.56s. Klaver held on for fourth in 49.91s.

"This is what I came here for and I achieved my goal of winning the Ultimate Championship," Paulino said.

The result brought Naser's campaign at the new three-day championship to an end, with her attention now turning to the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

Athletics will be held at Paloma Mizuho Stadium from September 23 to 29, with Naser set to represent Bahrain as part of the kingdom's 34-member squad.