ATHLETICS – BAHRAIN’S superstar athlete Winfred Yavi says she is excited about defending her world title later this year in the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase.
This is following her scintillating Wanda Diamond League victory early yesterday morning at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, California, in the US.
The event’s defending world champion and Paris 2024 Olympics gold-medallist won a star-studded and ultra-quick race in eight minutes 45.25 seconds, which was a new meeting record and the fastest time in the world this year.
Following her stellar performance, the 25-year-old expressed her confidence ahead of the World Athletics Championships 2025 in Japan this September.
“I came here ready, I’m so grateful for the results,” said Yavi in Eugene. “Honestly, I just wanted to come and execute whatever I have in the body, and I knew I was going to be first.
“The plan was to come, run my own race, and dig in.
“I’m really looking forward to defending the title because I know it’s going to be tough.”
Yavi’s mark in Eugene was her season’s best and the first time she dipped below the nine-minute mark in three Wanda Diamond League races so far this season.
Her time was not far from her personal best of 8:44.39, which she set last year and is an Asian and Bahraini record. That mark is also the second-fastest time ever, slower only than the current world record of 8:44.32.
Yavi is expected to be amongst the kingdom’s top medal hopefuls who will be competing at this year’s world championships, set to take place in Tokyo from September 13 to 21.
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