Bahrain's Paris 2024 silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser had an impressive return to the track last night in her first race since the Olympics.
Competing in the women’s 400 metres at the Kamila Skolimowska Diamond League meeting in Silesia, Poland, Naser finished in second place amongst a high-quality field that featured six of the eight Paris finalists.
Running in lane four, the superstar sprinter pushed hard from the start, and as the field headed towards the home straight, was in contention for the win.
Just like in the French capital, the 26-year-old battled Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic to the end, but the Olympic champion got the better of her to win in 48.66 seconds, which was a new meeting record. Naser followed in an ultra-quick time of 49.23s, while Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland came third in 49.95s – completing the same trio of medallists, in the same order, from the recently concluded Olympic Games.
Naser’s mark was the seventh time this season that she dipped below 50s.
Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland finished fourth in 50.00s, Alexis Holmes of the US was fifth in 50.01s, and Henriette Jaeger of Norway came sixth in 50.46s. The race classification was rounded out by Sada Williams of Barbados in seventh in 50.82s and Laviai Nielsen of Great Britain in eighth in 51.02s.
The Diamond League is the premier one-day meeting series under World Athletics, track and field’s international governing body. It comprises 15 of the most prestigious events in the sport, and athletes vie for points across 14 meetings in a bid to qualify for the two-day Diamond League Final, to be held this year in Brussels, Belgium on September 13 and 14.
The next Diamond League meeting is the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala in Rome, Italy, on Friday at the 70,000-capacity Stadio Olimpico. There, Bahrain’s Olympic champion Winfred Yavi will be competing in the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase. That will be her first race since the Paris Olympics.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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