Five Saudi runners record top-3 finishes in European competitions

Five Saudi Arabian runners on Saturday recorded top-three finishes at two international meets in Belgium and Germany.

Azzam Abu Bakr stole the show by winning Heat 3 of the 400m hurdles at the Flanders Cup VITA meeting in Belgium, in a time of 52.99s, to qualify for the 2022 World Athletics U-20 Championships in Colombia from Aug. 1 to Aug. 7.

Yahya Walby finished second in the same race with a personal best of 53.40s. Teammate Bandar Majrashi made it a 1-2-3 finish for Saudi Arabia, coming in third with a time of 55.47s.

Also at the Flanders Cup VITA, Tarek Al-Omari won first place in the 5,000m race, recording a time of 13:46.81 minutes in his first appearance since returning from injury.

Meanwhile, Hassan Araour managed his second-best time of the season (48.17s) to claim first place in the 400m race in Germany, the Saudi Athletics Federation said on its official Twitter account.