Karsten Warholm smashes 400m hurdles world record, wins gold in Tokyo

In an exhilarating men’s 400m hurdles final, it was world record-holder Karsten Warholm who came out victorious, smashing his own world record to cross the finish line in 45.94. The second and third-place finishers both set area records, and three more men in the field set national records.

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Track fans everywhere were looking forward to a head-to-head race with Norway’s Warholm and the U.S.A.’s Rai Benjamin, and as the athletes rounded the final bend, it looked as though Benjamin might overtake the world record-holder. Warholm pushed back harder to hold Benjamin off for the win. The American broke a 29-year-old national record, crossing the line in 46.17, which also takes down Warholm’s previous world record. Third place went to Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos, who finished in his own national record time of 46.72. The rest of the results were as follows:

4. Kyron McMaster (British Virgin Islands): 47.08 (national record)
5. Abderrahman Samba (Qatar): 47.12 (season’s best)
6. Yasmani Copello (Turkey): 47.81 (national record)
7. Rasmus Magi (Estonia): 48.11 (national record)
8. Alessandro Sibilio (Italy): 48.77

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For those of you keeping track, that’s one world record, two area records and five national records in one race. It’s not often winning a race requires you to set a world record, and this men’s final will certainly go down in Olympic history as one of the best races of all time.

For the full schedule and results, click here.