ATHLETICS – Bahrain's former world champion and Paris 2024 Olympics silver-medallist Salwa Eid Naser put in a brave effort last night in finishing eighth and last in the women’s 400 metres final on day two of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship 2026, taking place at Gyula Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.
The all-new, three-day meeting has brought together Olympic and world champions, along with Diamond League winners and many of the year’s best-performing track and field stars, who are battling for a share of the record prize pot of US$10million, with $150,000 apiece going to each individual champion.
Naser started her race well and was in contention for the lead as she ran in lane six alongside reigning Olympic champion, ex-world champion, and this year’s Diamond Trophy winner Marileidy Paulino from the Dominican Republic and Lieke Klaver from the Netherlands.
But as the field charged down the home straight towards the finish, Naser could not keep up and had to settle for her final classification with a time of 50.22 seconds.
Paulino was crowned the ‘Ultimate’ champion after winning in 49.07s, while European champion Henriette Jaeger from Norway finished as runner-up in 49.28s.
Nickisha Pryce from Jamaica claimed third place in 49.56s, while Klaver followed in fourth in 49.91s.
Ranked just ahead of Naser in fifth through seventh, respectively, were Martina Weil (50.00s) from Chile, Aaliyah Butler (50.12s) from the US, and Roxana Gomez (50.21s) from Cuba.
Naser had earlier qualified for the women’s 400m title-decider after taking second in the first of two semi-final heats on Friday with the round’s third-quickest time.
Naser was the lone Bahraini in the World Athletics Ultimate Championship 2026, which wraps up today.
The 2019 world champion now shifts her focus to the 20th Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
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