Naser, Paulino set up women's 400m showdown

Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser ran the fastest time to reach the Olympic women's 400 metres final on Wednesday, as the Dominican Republic's world champion Marileidy Paulino cruised through.

The 2019 world champion, Naser missed the 2022 worlds and Tokyo Games after she was hit with a two-year ban in 2021 for an anti-doping violation and an injury sidelined her for Budapest.

She had a slim lead coming out of the first turn in her semifinal and extended the gap down the final straight to finish in 49.08, her best performance of the season, with Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke (49.95) second.

Paulino zipped past Jamaica's Nickisha Pryce to take the lead by the halfway point and jogged through the final metres to win her heat in 49.21, with American Alexis Holmes (50.00) second.

One of the hot favourites, Pryce had two of the three fastest times this year but lost steam with about 100 metres to go and finished a surprise fourth in 50.77 to miss out on Friday's final.

A season's best for Sala Eid Naser as she takes Semi-Final 1 of the Women's 400m 🇧🇭

Ireland's Rhasidat Adeleke bags an automatic qualification into the final 🇮🇪#Paris2024 #CloserToYourChampions pic.twitter.com/S4jaM21Je0

— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 7, 2024

Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek was running stride for stride down the final metres with Briton Amber Anning and sneaked ahead at the last moment to finish in two hundredths of a second clear in 49.45 in the last semifinal.

The event is missing twice champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, as the Bahamian's title defence ended in the repechage round after an injury-plagued start to the season.