Ali Khamis


Ali Khamis Abbas Ali Khamis is a Bahraini track and field athlete who competes mainly in the 400 metres sprint and 400 metres hurdles. His personal best for the flat event is 44.36 seconds, set in 2013, while his hurdles best is 49.55 seconds, set in 2014. He was the 2014 Asian Games champion in the hurdles and the runner-up in the sprint at the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships

Career

Khamis made his international debut at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics. There he ran in the heats of the 400 m hurdles and set a personal best of 54.27 seconds over the youth height barriers. He also was part of Bahrain's Swedish medley relay team. At the 2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships – despite winning his heat in a best of 52.67 seconds – he faltered in the 400 m hurdles final and finished last. He also competed at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics, running in the heats only.
Two national junior records in the 400 metres sprint came for Khamis at the 2013 Arab Athletics Championships: he ran 46.90 seconds in the qualifiers then 46.25 seconds in the final to take the bronze medal behind Saudi athletes Yousef Masrahi and Ismail Al-Sabiani. He reached the podium for a second time that year at the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships. While Masrahi repeated as champion, Khamis took the silver medal with a significant new best time of 45.65 seconds.
Khamis began his 2014 season with a 400 m sprint/hurdles double at the Arab Junior Athletics Championships in Cairo. He made his debut on the IAAF Diamond League circuit in May, running in the 400 m at the Doha Diamond League and placing runner-up. The hurdles remained his focus that year, as he returned in the event at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics. He set a string of bests at the competition, improving from 51.10 in the heats to 49.55 seconds in the final – a time which brought him second place to Jamaica's Jaheel Hyde. He maintained this form at the 2014 Asian Games held two months later and a run of 49.71 seconds was enough for the Bahraini teenager to win the 400 m hurdles gold medal. He ranked in the top fifty worldwide and second in Asia on time that season, behind only Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Koblov.

Achievements