Salwa Eid Naser stunned the athletics world by producing the third-fastest 400m in history to upset heavy favourite Shaunae Miller-Uibo and take gold at the World Athletics Championships in Doha.
In her fifth race of these championships, after running the 4x400m mixed relay earlier in the week, the 21-year-old took almost a second off her personal best to run 48.14, the fastest time in the world since East Germany’s Marita Koch set a dubious world record back in 1985.
Miller-Uibo, the world leader this year, also shattered her own personal best in 48.37, moving to number six on the all-time list, but could not run down the Bahraini in front of a shocked Khalifa International Stadium. Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson took the bronze, with the first five athletes all breaking their personal bests.
Earlier in the evening, Laura Muir booked her place in the women’s 1500m final, looking in good shape in only her second race back after a calf injury, while Sifan Hassan continued her quest for a second gold medal of these championships by winning the other semi-final, but Britain’s Sarah McDonald missed out on the final qualifying spot.
World Athletics Championships: Day seven
The Scottish trio of Jake Wightman, Josh Kerr and Neil Gourley all qualified well for the semi-finals of the men’s equivalent.
China’s Lijiao Gong successfully defended her world title in the women’s shot put, but was given an almighty scare by Jamaica’s Danniel Thomas-Dodd, whose sixth round throw was an agonising 8ccm short of Gong’s winning mark or 19.55.
