BAHRAIN’S athletics sensation Salwa Eid Naser claimed a fantastic victory in the women’s 400 metres yesterday at the prestigious IAAF Diamond League Shanghai meeting in China.
Salwa lived up to her tag as pre-race favourite and powered to the win in 50.65 seconds, which was her season’s best so far. Salwa got out quickly and led from gun to tape.
America Sydney McLaughlin came second in 50.78s, while Christine Botlogetswe of Botswana was third in 51.29s.
The result earned Salwa her first victory in a Diamond League event this year. She was the 400m champion in last year’s Diamond League circuit, where she won six of seven races. Salwa also won five medals at the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships just last month, including four gold medals.
Composed
Despite her fine performance, Salwa remained composed after the race. She commented: “I thought today went okay. I would say 50-50. I have trained well over the winter. Today was just okay.”
Meanwhile, Bahraini Winfred Yavi also had impressive performance yesterday in Shanghai.
The long-distance specialist finished fourth in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase. She completed her run in nine minutes 19.63 seconds, which was her season’s best.
She was classified a quarter-minute behind winner Beatrice Chepkoech of Kenya, who had a world leading mark and meeting record of 9:04.53 for the win. Fellow-Kenyan Celliphine Chespol was the runner-up in 9:11.10 while Peruth Chemutai of Uganda finished ahead of Winfred in third in 9:17.78.
Lyles wins men’s 100m – Page 21
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