Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s Olympic-bound athlete Ismail Doudai Abakar yesterday delivered an outstanding performance in the men’s 400m hurdles at the Diamond League meeting in London, significantly boosting Qatar’s hopes in the one-lap event at the upcoming Paris Games. Despite having the disadvantage of running in lane 8, Abakar smashed his personal best by nearly a second, clocking an impressive 47.72 seconds to secure an impressive third-place finish against a world-class field that included former world champion Alison dos Santos.
“That was a huge PB for me so I am very excited now for Paris. I knew I could do it and now I can go there and I really feel I can get to the final. To take this much off my PB puts me really in the right place for the Olympics,” Abakar, 20, said after the race.
Santos, the 2022 world champion and bronze medallist in Tokyo, stormed to victory with a time of 47.18 seconds, while Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke achieved a season-best best of 47.63 to finish second ahead of Abakar.
Behind Abakar, Kyron McMaster from the British Virgin Islands finished fourth with 47.81 seconds, while France’s Wilfried Happio came fifth with 48.26 seconds.
The field was rounded out by CJ Allen of the USA (48.49 seconds), Gerald Drummond of Costa Rica (48.89 seconds), and Great Britain’s Alastair Chalmers (49.
52). Abakar, whose previous personal best was 48.68 seconds, achieved at the ASA Athletics Grand Prix 1 in Potchefstroom, South Africa, will be in action in .