Monaco
The winner of one of the most shocking races in memory has been provisionally suspended for failing to make herself available for doping tests.
Salwa Eid Naser, who routed the defending Olympic gold medalist while running the best time in the women’s 400 since 1985 at last year’s world championships, was charged with whereabouts violations by the Athletics Integrity Unit on Friday.
Last October at worlds in Qatar, Naser won in 48.14 seconds, . Naser, who was born in Nigeria and now runs for Bahrain, beat Miller-Uibo by .23 seconds on an evening in which Miller-Uibo shattered her own personal best by more than a half-second.
“I slowed down a bit over the last 10 meters,” Naser said in a November interview with the . “I celebrated too early. I think if I had someone to push me to the finish line, I was going to run off, with a 47.9 or a 48.0.”
She said she’s been targeting the world record of 47.60 held by Marita Koch of East Germany. It’s one of the longest-standing marks in track.
Koch and Czech sprinter Jarmila Kratochvílová are the only women to break 48 seconds at 400 meters, and both did it in the 1980s, an era sullied by stories of steroid use among Eastern European athletes.—AP
