ATHLETICS – Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser bagged a sensational silver medal in the women’s 400 metres last night at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The superstar sprinter put in a fantastic run in an historic final but was narrowly beaten by reigning world champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who captured gold in a new Olympic record.
“Glory be to God, I thank you God,” Naser later said on social media.
It was an ultra-quick race, being the first 400m dash in history in which the first three women had gone sub-49 seconds, according to World Athletics, track and field’s international governing body. It was also the first time ever that all eight participants dipped below the 50-second mark.
With the result, Naser secured the maiden Olympic medal of her illustrious career. The 26-year-old 2019 world champion also clinched Team Bahrain’s second accolade in the French capital, adding to the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase gold of Winfred Yavi.
Naser was among the favourites heading into last night’s race, held on a wet track at the 81,000 plus-capacity Stade de France following some rain earlier in the evening.
Running in lane eight, Naser had a good start off the blocks and appeared to be in good shape as the field powered around the final curve. But as they entered the home straight, Paulino was in the lead.
Naser bravely chased her down as they headed towards the finish but her chief rival did enough to secure the victory in a new Olympic record of 48.17 seconds. Naser ran her fastest race of 2024 and finished with her season’s best of 48.53s, while European champion Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland added an Olympic bronze after taking third in 48.98s.
Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland came fourth in 49.28s and Amber Anning of Great Britain fifth in 49.29s, while rounding out the top eight were Alexis Holmes (49.77s) of the US, Sada Williams (49.83s) of the Bahamas, and Henriette Jaeger (49.96s) of Norway.
Naser’s silver medal was the third for the kingdom in the history of the Olympics. Eunice Kirwa had also claimed a women’s marathon silver in Rio 2016 and then Kalkidan Gezahegne took home a women’s 10,000m silver from Tokyo 2021.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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