Dominican Marileidy Paulino won her first 400m world championship title by winning the final at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Wednesday. With a time of 48 sec 76, the 2022 vice-world champion and Olympic vice-champion in Tokyo in 2021, Paulino, is crowned at the planetary level for the first time in individual. The 26-year-old sprinter made the difference in the last corner to approach the final stretch with a large lead and set a new Dominican Republic record.
Paulino had been experiencing some physical issues in recent weeks and was unable to show his form in the mixed 4x400m as his country withdrew at the last moment. She finished well ahead of Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek (49.57), silver medalist, and Barbadian Sada Williams (49.60).
Paulino was able to take advantage of the absences of the big stars of the discipline: Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone withdrew before the competition, as did the injured 2019 Bahraini world champion Salwa Eid Naser. Defending champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo was eliminated in the playoffs four months after giving birth to her son.
