Mens 400 metres Hurdles Final 2021-08-03

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Event
Mens 400 metres Hurdles Final

Date
Tue 3rd August 2021 (UTC)
Tue 3rd August 2021 (Local)

Timestamp
2021-08-03T03:20:00

Time

03:20:00 UTC

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League
Olympics Athletics

Season
2020

Round
200

Status

Location
Japan National Stadium

Video Highlights

Play on YouTube

Description

The men's 400 metres hurdles event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place between 30 July and 3 August 2021 at the Olympic Stadium. 36 athletes from 26 nations competed.

In what has been described as one of the greatest races in Olympic history, Karsten Warholm of Norway won, setting a new world record of 45.94 seconds. He beat his own previous record, set a month before, by 0.76 seconds; silver medalist Rai Benjamin of the United States beat the previous record by 0.53 seconds. Brazilian hurdles Alison dos Santos took bronze. The medals were the first ever in the event for both Norway and Brazil; the United States' podium streak in the event stretched to four Games.

Summary
Following more than a decade of dominance by Edwin Moses, Kevin Young set the world record at 46.78 in the 1992 Olympic Final, being the first man to break 47 seconds (Moses' best time had been 47.02).

The 47-second barrier would not be broken again until 2018, by Abderrahman Samba, then in 2019, Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin broke it in the same race.

In 2021 at the United States Olympic Trials, Benjamin narrowly missed Young's world record, and a week later, Warholm broke it, stopping the clock at 46.70. It was expected it would take a world record to win the Olympic gold medal.

Both Benjamin and Warholm drew each other in the first semifinal: Warholm sped up at the finish to take the win in 47.30, while Alison dos Santos ran 47.31 to win the second semifinal over Samba.

In the final, Warholm started quickly, gaining a slight advantage over the first barrier. One lane to his inside, Benjamin was able to see the position of his opponent. By the fifth hurdle, Warholm had a half a stride advantage, but through the final turn, Benjamin pulled that back in steadily.

Benjamin, with the momentum, cleared the final hurdle even with Warholm, but Warholm opened up in the 40 metre dash to the finish line, winning by two metres.

Warholm's time was 45.94 - breaking the 46 second barrier - and also demolishing his existing world record by 0.76 seconds. Benjamin ran 46.17, more than half a second faster than the previous world record, to win silver, and bronze medalist dos Santos ran 46.72, just 0.02 slower than Warholm's previous world record.

The all-time list saw Young move down to #4 as all three broke his Olympic record; further to this, all three medalists broke their respective continental records, and six of the eight competitors in the race set new national records.

This race was one of the few times in which all three medalists broke the existing Olympic record and the top two finishers also broke the existing world record; and the same outcome occurred in the women's 400m hurdles final the next day.

Background
This was the 27th appearance of the event, which was introduced in 1900. It was left off the 1912 program, but has been contested at every Games since the post-World War I return of the Olympics in 1920.

The reigning world champion was Karsten Warholm of Norway. The reigning Olympic champion, Kerron Clement, did not compete.

The British Virgin Islands competed in the men's 400 metres hurdles for the first time. The United States made its 26th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Reports

Result List

01	Karsten Warholm	45.94
02	Rai Benjamin	46.17
03	Alison dos Santos	46.72

Result Description
Rank Lane Athlete Nation Reaction Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 Karsten Warholm Norway 0.145 45.94 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 5 Rai Benjamin United States 0.168 46.17 AR
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 Alison dos Santos Brazil 0.156 46.72 AR
4 4 Kyron McMaster British Virgin Islands 0.157 47.08 NR
5 8 Abderrahman Samba Qatar 0.186 47.12 SB
6 3 Yasmani Copello Turkey 0.166 47.81 =NR
7 9 Rasmus Mägi Estonia 0.167 48.11 NR
8 2 Alessandro Sibilio Italy 0.144 48.77

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