ATHLETICS – BAHRAIN’S superstar sprinter Salwa Eid Naser set a series of new records en route to claiming a sensational double victory at the Felix Sanchez Classic in the Dominican Republic.
The meeting took place at Estadio Luguelin Santos in the municipality of Bayaguana, and it was a bronze-level event on the 2025 World Athletics Continental Tour.
Naser won both the women’s 400 metres and women’s 200m in style – with each race happening just an hour apart on the same day.
Her 400m victory came with the world leading mark, a new meeting record, and the fastest-ever time in the distance in the month of March, according to the organisers of the competition. Naser then clocked a new personal best while taking first place in the 200m.
Naser is a multi-titled elite athlete and a former world champion in the women’s 400m. She also bagged the silver medal in the same race at the Paris 2024 Olympics, which was her maiden Olympic medal.
In the 400m run, the 26-year-old completed the one-lap event in a winning time of 48.94 seconds. That was not only her season’s best mark, but also the fastest time in the world so far in 2025.
Naser finished the race well ahead of runner-up Roxana Gomez of Cuba, who had a time of 50.77s, while Anabel Medina Ventura of the Dominican Republic came third in 52.05s.
Rounding up the race classification from fourth through eighth, respectively, were Roneisha McGregor (53.93s) of Jamaica, Deborah Rodriguez (54.23s) of Uruguay, Milagros Duragn (54.32s) and Bianca Acosta (54.53s) of the Dominican Republic, and Akrisa Eristee (57.76s) of the British Virgin Islands.
Naser had also dipped below the 49-second mark at last year’s Olympics, and is not far from reaching her personal best of 48.14s, which she clocked in 2019 en route to securing her world title.
Meanwhile, in the 200m, Naser ran a time of 22.45s, which was a new personal record. She finished ahead of runner-up Liranyi Alonso of the Dominican Republic, who had a mark of 23.05s, while Vitoria Cristina Rosa of Brazil was ranked third in 23.30s.
McGregor (23.59s) and Duran (23.99s) were fourth and fifth, respectively, while in sixth was Estrella de Aza of the Dominican Republic in 24.02s.
Naser is a former Asian champion in the 200m. Her previous season’s best over the half-lap was 22.51s, which she set in 2019. She had also gone faster than 23s in 2023 and now set a new personal benchmark heading towards the rest of the 2025 season.
Naser is expected to be one of Bahrain’s top medal hopefuls at this year’s World Athletics Championships, set to take place in Tokyo from September 13 to 21.
The entry standards for the women’s 400m and 200m are 50.75s and 22.57s – both of which Naser has already met, but it remains to be seen which events she will be selected in to represent the kingdom at the worlds.
The qualification period has already begun and ends on midnight of August 24 this year.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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