Salwa Eid-Naser: ‘I’m planning on winning gold in Tokyo’
Salwa Eid-Naser is not holding back on her goals for 2025 as she prepares to battle reigning World and Olympic 400m champion, Marileidy Paulino on Friday at the Meeting De Paris Diamond League meeting at the Stade Charlety in Paris, France.
The Nigeria-born Bahrani will be facing the Dominican Republic athlete for the 12th time and will be seeking for only her second head-to-head win after ending the losing run last month at the Grand Slam Track opener in Kingston, Jamaica.
The 27-year-old sped to an incredible 48.67 win to break the jinx and, buoyed by that performance, she has set her sight on reclaiming the World Championships full lap gold she lost without competing in 2022.
Eid-Naser was banned for Whereabouts failure soon after she ran 48.14 to win the 400m gold at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar. Since her return, she has been working on getting back to becoming the best again in the event.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics last year, she lost the gold to Paulino but she is now ready to be number one again.
‘I’m planning on winning gold in Tokyo. That is the dream of every athlete,’ she said at the press conference heralding the eighth meeting of the 2025 Diamond League in Paris.
Eid-Naser believes her 48.67 run in Kingston has given her the confidence she needed to believe she can do it again.
She lost to Paulino last year at the same venue but hopes to turn the table on the Dominican Republic star as she bids for gold in Tokyo in September.
