SURELY, NOT HAVING Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone in the field changed the nature of the women’s 1-lapper, but the American did at least provide a target with her 49.11 in the non-DL 400 just 11 minutes earlier. The undefeated Olympic champion and world leader, Marileidy Paulino, lined up in lane 5. She would have Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke chasing her in lane 4 and would be able to run with her eyes on silver medalist Salwa Eid Naser in 6, with World Indoor runner-up Lieke Klaver in 7.
Perhaps chasing the 49.11, Paulino got out more aggressively than usual, and on the backstretch she made up the staggers on all the runners on the outside. At 300, her closest competitor was Klaver, but Paulino masterfully pulled away on the straight. Behind her, Alexis Holmes finished best in lane 3, running down Klaver and Naser (who at 300 inadvertently slipped into Paulino’s lane).
For Paulino, a winning time of 49.45 was a bit short of satisfying, as it would be fuel for some to devalue her performance in comparison to SML’s. Holmes finished in 50.32; Naser finished next in 50.64 but would, of course, be disqualified. That left 3rd place to Adeleke in 50.96.
Said Paulino, “Of course, I would have loved to run faster and closer to my personal best, but it was really, really cold tonight. This season was fantastic for me. With the gold medal in Paris, I can say now that I won all the titles that I could win. Still that doesn’t mean that I don’t have any goals left for the next seasons. I want to become better.”
| T&FN Results Coming Soon | |
| Diamond League Results Here | |
