Salwa Eid Naser (BAHRAIN)
400m
The 17-year-old Salwa Eid Naser won the World Youth Championships 400m in a personal best and World Youth Leader of 51.50. She is the second-ever female world champion from Bahrain, the other being two-time 1500m senior champion Maryam Yusef Jamal, and her victory came on the festival of Eid-al-Fitr, the day after Ramadan. Naser competed through the rounds while wearing a hijab and fasting for the month-long Muslim religious observance.
Naser, whose father is Bahraini and mother is Nigerian, has made huge advances over the past year and a half. She swept the 200m (24.61) and 400m (55.72) at the 2014 Arab Junior Championships last May before taking silver at the Youth Olympic Games 400m (52.74) later in the summer. She also set the National Junior Records in the 100m (11.7) and 200m (23.34) this past May.
She qualified as the third-fastest competitor for the 400m finals at World Youth and relied on a late surge to blow past Lynna Irby of the United States in the final 100 meters to win, 51.50 to 51.79.
Ashton Eaton on Salwa Eid Naser: "Even though she was getting overtaken by competitors on both sides, she stuck to her race to win it in the final 75 metres. Her training foresight is above average for her age. She is a display of overall maturity."