Yousef Masrahi

Who is Yousef Masrahi?

Yousef Ahmed Masrahi is a Saudi Arabian track and field athlete, who specialises in the 400 metres sprint. His personal best time for the event is 44.61 seconds, set in Moscow in 2013. He was the gold medallist in the event at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2011.

His first international outing came in middle-distance events at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games. He failed to finish in the 800 metres, but set an national indoor record of 4:11.28 minutes in the 1500 metres heats. He won his first medal at the competition in the 4×400 metres relay, taking the gold alongside Hamdan Al-Bishi, Ali Al-Deraan and Hamed Al-Bishi. In the 2008 season he was based in California and began to run in the 200 metres and 400 metres instead, setting best times of 21.80 and 46.45 seconds in the events.

Masrahi won the national title over 200 m in 2009 and improved his 400 m best to 45.84 seconds in Riyadh, gaining the "B" qualifying standard. He represented Saudi Arabia at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics, but was knocked out in the 400 m heats. He was the bronze medalist in the distance at the Arab Athletics Championships and also won the relay title with Saudi Arabia. At the 2009 Asian Indoor Games in November Masrahi was just beaten to the 400 m title by Ismail Al-Sabiani, another Saudi runner, but the pair teamed up in the relay to set a Games record and national record time of 3:10.31 minutes.