2 days ago
Naser Set for Diamond League in Poland
TDT | Manama
Bahrain's sprint sensation Salwa Eid Naser faces one of her toughest challenges of the season today as she lines up in a world-class women's 400 metres at the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Chorzow, Poland.
The race, part of the Wanda Diamond League, begins at 5.04pm Bahrain time and features an elite field led by reigning world and Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic. Also competing are Natalia Bukowiecka of Poland, the Paris 2024 Olympic bronze-medallist, Sada Williams of Barbados, Amber Anning of Great Britain, Alexis Holmes of the US, Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands, Henriette Jaeger of Norway, and Martina Weil of Chile.
Paulino currently tops the global 400m rankings, with Naser at No.2, Bukowiecka at No.3, and Anning at No.4.
Naser enters the race with a season's best of 48.67 seconds, set in April in Kingston, Jamaica. Her personal best of 48.14s, achieved in 2019, remains both the Asian and Bahraini record. Just last weekend, she clocked a stunning 35.85s in the 300m at a meet in Krakow, breaking the Asian, Arab, and national records for the rarely contested distance. She finished second behind Bukowiecka.
The 2019 world champion and Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist is using today's race as part of her build-up for the World Athletics Championships 2025, to be held from September 13 to 21 in Tokyo's 70,000-capacity National Stadium. More than 2,000 athletes from around 200 countries are expected to compete across 49 events.
After Chorzow, Naser will continue her Diamond League campaign in Lausanne on August 20 and in the Zurich final on August 27-28, as she sharpens her form ahead of the worlds.
