Qatar’s Samba sets new Diamond League record in Rome, Haroun finish second
Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba lived up to his billing as one of the world’s most promising athletes by storming to victory in men’s 400M hurdles at the Rome Diamond League meeting yesterday, reported Gulf Times.
The 22-year-old clocked a season’s best time of 47.48sec to set a new Diamond League record and also broke the Asian and Arab records on the way.
The previous Diamond League record of 47.73 stood in the name of the Dominican Republic’s Felix Sanchez. The previous Asian record (47.53 secs) was held by Saudi Arabia’s Hadi Soua’an Al Somaily, set in Sydney, Australia, 18 years ago.
“It’s a big feeling for me to break not only my personal best but also the Asian record, the national record and the Diamond League record. I now hope every race will feel like this,” Samba said, according to The Peninsula.
“I say thank you to my rivals for pushing me — I told Karsten thank you especially. We’re now giving the 400M hurdles the attention it deserves.” Karsten Warholm of Norway clocked 47.82sec to finish second, while Turkey’s Yasmani Copeland was third in 48.63.
Samba, who also won the title at the Doha Diamond League meeting in early May, will head to Oslo next.
“Next, I’ll race in Oslo. I take every race very seriously and the big goal is always to run fast. I don’t know how fast I can run but we’ll see in the near future,” he added.
Qatar won another medal yesterday when 400M flat specialist Abdalleleh Haroun narrowly finished second behind the USA’s Fred Kerly.
Kerley clocked 44.33sec, just beating Haroun who timed 44.37. The USA’s Paul Dedewo completed the podium, clocking 44.58 seconds for third.
