Yousef Ahmed Masrahi (Arabic:يوسف مسرحي) (born 31 December 1987, in Najran)[2] is a Saudi Arabian track and field athlete, who specialises in the 400 metressprint. His personal best time for the event is 43.93 seconds, set in 2015, and is the Asian record.
The 2010 Asian Games was his focus for the next season and he gained selection after winning a 200/400 m double at the national championships.[3] He ran personal best of 45.48 seconds in the heats of the 400 m at the Asian Games, but was little slower in the final and took the bronze medal. With the relay team he anchored the men home to a Saudi national record of 3:02.30 minutes, running with Al-Sabiani, Mohammed Al-Salhi and Al-Bishi to win the Asian Games title.[5][6] The next year, he won the 400 m gold medal at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, and also won a silver medal in the relay.[7] In 2014, he won the gold medal for the men's 400m in 44.6 sec.[8]
He set his personal best, the Asian record during the qualifying heats of the 2015 World Championships, finishing barely ahead of Rusheen McDonald who was credited with the same time, 43.93 which at the time ranked both men in the top dozen in history. With two more rounds to run, McDonald was unable to qualify for the final, while Masrahi did, but his remarkable speed was not present in that final where even his personal best would only have been good enough for fourth place.
Anti-doping violation
Masrahi was banned from competition for four years from 15 June 2016 (prior to the 2016 Rio Olympics) to 13 July 2020 due to a failed drug test due to the presence of EPO.[9][10][11]
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