The Dominican Republic’s sprinting superstar, Marileidy Paulino, will contest her final race of 2025 this Friday, 10 October at the Athlos event in New York City. Paulino is the defending champion in the race in the 400m.
The two-time Olympic medalist (Paris 2024 gold and Tokyo 2021 silver) and World medalist is looking to finish her season on a high note in what will be her 14th competitive outing across the 200m and 400m distances this year.
Paulino enters the final event having already secured her place in the history books for 2025. Following the World Athletics Championships in September 2025 in Tokyo, she became the first Dominican and Latina athlete to run under the 48-second barrier in the 400m with a stunning time of 47.98 seconds.
All eyes at the meet will be on the latest chapter of Paulino’s gripping rivalry with Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser, who is coached by Dominican Jose Ludwig Rubio, who also produced Luguelin Santos who won silver for the Dominican Republic in 200m in the London Olympics (2012). The dynamic between Paulino and Naser has produced some of the year’s most electrifying performances. Naser is one of the few athletes to have edged out Paulino this season, scoring victories at the first Grand Slam Track meet in Kingston, Jamaica, and more recently at the Diamond League Final in Zurich.
Paulino will also compete against Alexis Holmes (USA), Ambar Anning (Great Britain), Henriette Jager (Norway), and Lynna Irby Jackson (USA).
Paulino enters the final event having already secured her place in the history books for 2025. Following the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, she became the first Dominican and Latina athlete to run under the 48-second barrier in the 400m with a stunning time of 47.98 seconds. Naser ran for third with 48.19 in that race.
This achievement solidifies a period of sustained excellence over the past five years, marked by consistent podium finishes at all major global championships.
• World Record Chase: Her time of 47.98 seconds, along with a blistering 47.78 run by rival Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone at the World Championships, brought the decades-old World Record of 47.60 seconds, set by Marita Koch in 1986, tantalizingly close to falling.
• Missed World Title Repeat: The year saw her narrowly miss joining Cathy Freeman (1997 and 1999) as the only women to successfully defend a World Championships title in the 400m.
Paulino is also the defending Athlos champion, having cruised to victory last year with a time of 49.59 seconds, where she comfortably beat both Holmes and Naser.
The Athlos event offers significant financial incentives to its winners. While exact figures for this year are pending, the prize money structure is expected to be similar to last year’s payout, with the winner taking home an estimated $60,000, the runner-up earning $25,000, and the third-place finisher collecting approximately $10,000.
7 October 2025