Blinding speed

I still can’t believe the time. The time is so crazy, crossing the line and seeing the time I went completely crazy.

SALWA Eid Naser clocks the third fastest time in women’s 400-meter run. AFP

DOHA, Qatar (AFP) — Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser stunned race favorite Shaunae Miller-Uibo to take the women’s 400 meters world title on Thursday in the third fastest time ever run of 48.14 seconds.

The 21-year-old Nigeria-born sprinter — silver medalist in the 2017 final — was clear coming into the straight and though Miller-Uibo closed she had too much of a gap.

Only East Germany’s world record holder Marita Koch and Jarmila Kratochvilova of the former Czechoslovakia have run faster and both were over 30 years ago.

“I’m the first one to win a global medal for Bahrain. It is really rewarding and I’m so happy,” she said.

“I still can’t believe the time. The time is so crazy, crossing the line and seeing the time I went completely crazy.

“Yes I was training so hard, but I never expected to run this fast.”

Naser, the Asian Games champion, said Bahamas star Miller-Uibo had been the catalyst for her performance.

“I think she (Shaunae) is an amazing athlete,” she said. “I don’t think I would have done that alone of course.”

“She’d been there to push me and is very competitive. I love her energy and already said thank you to her because without her I don’t think I would have gone so fast.”

Miller-Uibo took silver medal with a time of 48.37 seconds — the sixth fastest of all time — while Olympic bronze medalist Shericka Jackson of Jamaica was third with 49.47 seconds.

Suffering her first defeat since finishing eighth in the 100 meters at the 2017 Diamond League meet in London, Miller-Uibo sat on the track draped in the Bahamas flag, her hair dyed in the national colors, shaking her head.

“I let her get away too much on the kerb. I can’t compete with her with that sort of time,” admitted Miller-Uibo.