ATHLETICS – BAHRAIN’S superstar sprinter Salwa Eid Naser kick starts her bid today for a second world title – and fourth world medal overall – at the World Athletics Championships 2025 in Tokyo, Japan.
Naser will be hitting the track at Japan’s National Stadium in the women’s 400 metres, which gets underway with the first round heats.
She is one of 51 elite athletes competing in this stage, which features six races, starting from 1.25pm. Naser will be running in heat five, scheduled for a 1.57pm start. Both times are Bahrain.
Naser is one of nine runners in her race, where she has been slotted into lane five. The other participants are Nanako Matsumoto from Japan, Nadeesha Ramanayake from Sri Lanka, Shirley Nekhubui from South Africa, Andrea Miklos from Romania, Anna Polinari from Italy, Stacy Ann Williams from Jamaica, Evelis Aguilar from Colombia, and Victoria Ohuruogu from Great Britain.
Naser’s season’s best of 48.67 seconds is the quickest amongst all participants as it is the current world lead. Her personal best of 48.14s is the third-fastest mark of all-time and is also an Asian and Bahraini record.
Only the first three from each of the six heats, plus the six fastest times, advance to the semi-finals, which will be held on Tuesday. The final is scheduled for Thursday.
Naser is hoping to repeat her world title success from the 2019 world championships. She had also won a bronze medal that same year as part of Bahrain’s mixed 4x400m relay team. In the 2017 worlds, Naser captured silver in the 400m.
Reigning world and Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic is Naser’s chief competitor for the gold. Paulino is racing in heat six.
Meanwhile, also running today and flying the kingdom’s flag are the trio of Tigist Gashaw, Shitaye Eshete, and Eunice Chumba in the women’s marathon, which is scheduled for a 1.30am start, Bahrain time.
The Bahrainis are part of a 73-athlete field representing 43 nations who are gunning for gold in the 42.2-kilometre race, which will be held in the streets of Tokyo.
Two Bahraini athletes have won three medals in the women’s marathon in the past. They include Rose Chelimo, who struck gold in 2017 and then silver in 2019, and Eunice Kirwa, who won bronze in 2015.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))