ATHLETICS – BAHRAIN’S superstar sprinter Salwa Eid Naser will be gunning for the third Diamond Trophy of her career tonight when she competes in the women’s 400 metres at the highly anticipated Weltklasse Zurich meeting in Switzerland.
The event is the grand finale of this season’s Wanda Diamond League – the premier one-day meeting series held annually under World Athletics, track and field’s international governing body.
Naser qualified for Weltklasse Zurich after ranking third on the 400m Wanda Diamond League season standings with 26 points. Lieke Klaver from the Netherlands was the top qualifier with 29 points, followed by Henriette Jager on 28.
Both are part of the star-studded eight-runner field that also features reigning world and Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, Natalia Bukowiecka from Poland, Amber Anning from Great Britain, Martina Weil from Chile, and Isabella Whittaker from the US.
The race is scheduled for a 7.34pm start, Bahrain time.
Naser heads into the run with a season’s best of 48.67 seconds, which is not far from her personal best of 48.14s.
The 27-year-old will be looking to add to the back-to-back Diamond Trophies she won for the same discipline in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.
The Paris 2024 Olympics silver-medallist is the lone Bahraini in Weltklasse Zurich. Fellow-athletics stars Winfred Yavi and Birhanu Balew also qualified for the final but will not be competing.
All three are expected to be a part of the kingdom’s national team that will be going for gold in the World Athletics Championships 2025, set to take place in Tokyo, Japan, from September 13 to 21.
Bahrain athletes have so far lifted five Diamond Trophies in past seasons, with Naser winning twice, Yavi once, and Rio 2016 Olympics champion Ruth Jebet twice.
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