Summary
Starting in 1976, Edwin Moses became legend in this event. He could consistently run under 48 seconds which allowed him to run undefeated for over a decade. His 1983 world record 47.02 made 47 seconds seem like a pretty substantial barrier. Just under a decade later Kevin Young did break 47 winning the 1992 Olympics in 46.78 to set a new world record. That was it, nobody was able to get under 47 for more than a quarter of a century, until Abderrahman Samba dipped his toe over the line running 46.98 in 2018. Then the floodgates opened in 2019. Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin both broke 47 in the same race. The two did battle many times after that. Warholm finally broke Young's record in 2021, just before the record had stood for 29 years. [2] That season culminated with the 2020 Olympics where Warholm took the world record under 46 seconds to 45.94, which still stands as the current world record. In that race, on this track, Benjamin ran the second fastest time in history 46.17 and they were chased there by Alison dos Santos also under 47 seconds. Between the three of them, they had broken 47 seconds 38 times.
Warholm returns as defending champion also having won in 2017 and 2019. dos Santos won in 2022, Benjamin won the 2024 Olympics. Warholm also enters this championships with the world lead, his 46.28 less than a month before this race was the third fastest time in history.
Samba had the fastest time in the heats with a 48.03. Young NCAA Champion Ezekiel Nathaniel led the semis-final round with a 47.47. Only dos Santos was able to sneak into the finals with a time over 48 seconds. Unlike his customary lane 7, Warholm drew lane 4, Benjamin got lane 7, with Samba and Nathaniel in 5 and 6, while slow qualifier dos Santos was relegated to lane 9 where he couldn't see his competition. Qatar got a second athlete into the finals with Ismail Abakar. USA also got Caleb Dean.
In the final, Warholm was out aggressively, as is his style, making the athletes to his outside look like they were falling behind. By the end of the first turn, Warholm had made up the stagger on Samba who in turn had almost caught Nathaniel. Uncharacteristically, Benjamin was out just as aggressively making up the stagger on Abakar. When Warholm dragged his trail leg on the third hurdle, that little bobble put Benjamin virtually even. It was clearly a two man race with dos Santos the next to rise a stride behind by the fourth barrier. Down the backstretch, Warholm ran even with Samba and Nathaniel. Both Warholm and Benjamin hit the 200 split in 21.4. By the seventh hurdle, Benjamin had edged into a slight lead. By hurdle eight as the stagger tightened Benjamin had a full stride over Warholm, with dos Santos and Samba only another stride behind Warholm. Onto the home stretch, Benjamin had a clear lead with dos Santos and Samba gaining on Warholm. A few strides out from the final hurdle, a tiring Benjamin took an extra wide swing of his arm to try to lengthen his stride. The corrective action didn't work, he came up short, his left heel hitting the top left of the hurdle. He rode the hurdle until it tipped out of his way, the hurdle knocking Nathaniel's last hurdle out of place. Benjamin had lost his momentum, he struggled home as dos Santos closed rapidly. With just 40 metres to the finish, dos Santos didn't have enough real estate to catch up before Benjamin got over the line. Samba caught the slowing Warholm just after the tenth hurdle. Nathaniel had to go extra high to get over his out of place hurdle, then closed rapidly to almost catch Samba for the bronze.
After the race, Benjamin was disqualified. By hitting the hurdle with the bottom of his foot, it could be interpreted that Benjamin intentionally did not jump the full height of the final hurdle. Also, a hurdler is responsible for any interference a hurdle moved by his action might cause. After a long wait in the elimination area, Benjamin was reinstated as the gold medalist. [3] [4]
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