The Paris Olympic 400m silver medallist and 2019 world champion recorded the fastest ever 400m in March

Salwa Eid Naser has laid down a big marker for the outdoor season after running 48.94 over 400m at the Felix Sanchez Classic in Bayaguana, Dominican Republic (March 29).

The Bahraini athlete won the race by almost two seconds, with Cuba’s Roxena Gomez second in 50.77.

Naser followed up her 400m run with victory in the 200m, clocking a personal best of 22.45 over half a lap.

The 26-year-old’s performance will have no doubt caught the attention of her competitors at the upcoming inaugural Grand Slam Track in Kingston, Jamaica (April 4-6).

Naser is down as a Racer in the women’s long sprints category, meaning she will compete over 200m and 400m in Kingston, Miami, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

She will go up against Marileidy Paulino, Alexis Holmes, Nickisha Pryce, Dina Asher-Smith, Gabby Thomas, Talitha Diggs and Stacey Ann Williams over both half and a full lap at Independence Park.

Naser secured the silver medal in the 400m at last summer’s Paris Olympics and placed behind Paulino on the podium.

The Bahraini athlete clocked 48.53 at the Stade de France, with Paulino running an Olympic record of 48.17 to win the gold medal.

Naser’s personal best in the 400m is 48.14, which currently has her third on the all-time list – and she recorded that in Doha when she became world champion over the distance six years ago.

However, less than a year after her triumph in Qatar, Naser was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit for one filing failure and three missed tests in a 12-month period.

A disciplinary panel subsequently dismissed the charges but the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld appeals made by World Athletics and the World Anti-Doping Agency. As a result, Naser was handed a two-year ban from June 2021 to February 2023 over missed drug tests.