ATHLETICS – BAHRAIN’S superstar sprinter Salwa Eid Naser added another feather to her cap last night with a stunning victory in the women’s 400 metres at the Weltklasse Zurich meeting in Switzerland – the grand finale of this season’s Wanda Diamond League.
Naser not only powered to a sensational win to secure the third Diamond Trophy of her glittering career, but also set a new meeting record of 48.70 seconds while beating reigning world and Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic.
The result gives Naser a fantastic boost ahead of the upcoming World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo, Japan, where the 27-year-old will be gunning for her second world title.
“Coming here, I was a bit scared because I thought it was going to be really cold, but in fact, it is nice and warm,” Naser said last night following her victory.
“I just wanted to start well and finish better than I did last time. This definitely gives me a lot of self-confidence because after the last competitions, I needed this. But I learned something from the past competitions. I just needed to run, did not have anything to lose. I just tried my best to finish strong. This is what I needed before Tokyo.”
Naser’s mark was three-hundredths-of-a-second off her season’s best of 48.67s, and not far from her personal best of 48.14s.
Paulino was the runner-up last night in 49.23s, while Henriette Jaeger of Norway came third in 49.49s. Martina Weil of Chile was fourth in 49.72s, while rounding out the race’s classification from fifth through eighth, respectively, were Amber Anning (49.75s) from the UK, Isabella Whittaker (49.99s) from the US, Lieke Klaver (50.23s) from the Netherlands, and Natalia Bukowiecka (51.06s) from Poland.
Speaking of her plans ahead of Tokyo, Naser commented: “I think we are going back to training now to work on the last details we have been training for a long time.
“I train in Spain, and it is on my coach now.”
Naser’s win last night was the sixth Diamond Trophy won by a Bahraini athlete in the history of the Wanda Diamond League. Naser also claimed the coveted prize in 2018 and 2019, while the three others were won in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase by Bahrain’s reigning world and Olympic champion Winfred Yavi in 2023, and Rio 2016 Olympics champion Ruth Jebet in 2016 and 2017.
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