American defeats defending champion and world record-holder with real show of strength in Paris

The USA’s dominance of the hurdles events at Paris 2024 continued on Friday night (August 9) as Rai Benjamin dethroned Norway’s Olympic champion and world record-holder Karsten Warholm in the men’s 400m hurdles.

The rain might have put paid to any thoughts of Benjamin repeating the world record-breaking feats of his compatriot Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone the previous evening, but the man who has three global silvers to his name (one of which came at the Tokyo Games in 2021) upgraded to gold with the most convincing of wins.

He clocked 46.46 – the fastest time in the world this year – to leave Warholm trailing with 47.06, while Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos (47.26) completed a familiar top three when it comes to this event. The order, however, is a little more unusual than normal.

"I can't believe I actually finally did it," said Benjamin, bronze medallist at last year's World Championships. "It just happened at the right moment.

"I thought I'd get dipped, but no-one was there so I thought: 'Wait a minute, hold on, I'm actually doing this'. And I did it.

"To get it done it here when it really matters, when everyone said I couldn't get it done, it means so much to me. This one, they can't take away from me, at all. Mostly for me, this is about proving myself right.

"It does suck to see people doubting your abilities, not knowing the full story of what's going on. I've been battling injury, there's a lot of stuff that happens off the track that nobody really sees. Just to come out here and have everything smooth means a lot."

The expected close battle between the world's top three appeared to be unfolding, with Benjamin slightly ahead of Warholm, but an error coming off the final bend that left the world champion stretching for the ninth hurdle proved to be crucial.

With Benjamin pulling away, the Norwegian then had to worry about holding off a charging Dos Santos in lane three.

"I think it was a good first 300m, then I messed up hurdle nine because I was a little bit lactic and I could not get the flow from eight to nine. At that point, I felt like it was a good race and I was in control of everything that I planned. But you cannot afford those mistakes at this level.

"Rai did a great job being composed and bringing home the gold. At this level everybody says they deserve it but, whoever takes it, he is the better man on the day."

Listen to the latest episode of our daily podcast from Paris here

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