Silver for Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser in women's 400m at Paris 2024

Dominican Republic's Paulino takes gold in Olympic record time

Women's 400m silver medalist Salwa Eid Naser, of Bahrain, wipes away tears while standing on the podium. AP

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Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser said she had mixed emotions after claiming a silver medal in the women's 400m on her Olympic debut.

Eid Naser clocked 48.53 seconds on a wet night in Paris but was blown away by Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic who raced to gold in an Olympic record time of 48.17.

The Bahraini sprinter looked disappointed after the race but was never truly in the hunt for gold while also comfortably seeing off bronze medallist Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland who finished in 48.98.

Eid Naser has the full collection of medals - gold, silver and bronze - from World Championships but this was her first Olympics. She missed Tokyo because of a controversial ban for missed doping tests. The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban and she has made up for missed time with an Olympic medal.

But she said: "I cannot even begin to put into words what this means. I am happy and at the same time I am sad."

Marileidy Paulino of Team Dominican Republic, right, celebrates winning the gold medal with silver medallist Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain. Getty Images

Paulino, the gold medallist, said: "This is the best of my life, absolutely it is. I saw myself as very strong, I've worked so hard and now I have an Olympic record.

“For me this gold medal means a lot. It was the medal that I needed to complete an Olympic cycle and it is a medal that my country needed. The truth is that it was worth it because I think it will inspire many young people who are in a precarious situation. Many doors will open for them because of me.”

The Dominican entered the race as a big favourite having won gold at last year's world championships in Budapest. However, this title, won in front of a crowd who cheered her all the way down the home stretch, will rank as the greatest of her career.

Meanwhile, Team USA's Rai Benjamin won gold in the men's 400m hurdles at the Stade de France as he saw off his 'Big Three' rivals.

The race was billed as a shoot-out between Benjamin, Norway's Karsten Warholm and Brazil's Alison dos Santos. And so it proved as they all grabbed a medal.

For Benjamin it was gold in 46.46secs, with Warholm (47.06) second and Dos Santos (47.26) third.

Qatar's Abderrahman Samba came in sixth but was never in the mix for a medal.

Elsewhere, Egypt's Ahmed Elgendy looked in fine form as he set an Olympic record points total in qualifying for the final of the men's modern pentathlon.

Elgendy, the silver medallist from Tokyo, won his semi-final with a record tally of 1516 points.

The 24-year-old competed in fencing, riding, swimming and laser run, and topped his section with the best aggregate performance. He did struggle somewhat in the showjumping but more than made up for it elsewhere.

His compatriot Mohanad Shaban sneaked into the final. Shaban finished ninth in the second semi-final with only the top nine progressing to Saturday's main event.

The final begins at 7:30pm UAE time on Saturday, with the climax being a laser run which starts at 9.10pm.