Shereen smashes Rabia’s 30-year-old 400m national record

KUALA LUMPUR: National athlete Shereen Samson Vallabouy broke the 30-year-old 400 metres (m) national record when she clocked 51.80 seconds (s) at the 63rd Annual Mt. SAC Relays Athletics Championship in Walnut, California, United States, on Friday (early this morning in Malaysia).
 
In the meet held at Hilmer Lodge Stadium, Shereen, who represented Minnesota’s Winona State University, broke the 52.56s national record held by the late Rabia Abdul Salam, which she set in 1993 in the Philippines.
 
According to the championship’s website, https://finishedresults.trackscoreboard.com, the daughter of former national track stars Samson Vallabouy and Josephine Mary finished fifth behind Ziyah Holman of the University of Michigan, who finished fourth in 51.60s.
 
Jermaisha Arnold, representing Texas A&M University, emerged as the champion with a time of 50.79s, followed by her teammate, Tierra Robinson-Jones, in second place (51.01s), while University of South Carolina athlete Jan’Taijah Jones came in third (51.0s).
 
In March last year, Shereen began to steal the limelight when she managed to break the national 400m indoor record held by Noraseela Mohd Khalid (54.58s), set in 2006, by clocking 53.79s.
 
She then renewed that record with a time of 53.47s during the Bearson Gathje Classics Championship in Minnesota last January before again pulling off a stunner at the Lewis Illinois Invitational Athletics Championship in Chicago with a record of 52.87 seconds (s) in February to win the gold medal.
 
Shereen then continued her winning streak when she again grabbed gold at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in a record time of 52.27s last month.
 
The 25-year-old will represent Malaysia at the Cambodia SEA Games this May in the 400m and 4x400m events. – BERNAMA