Karsten Warholm breaks the world 400m hurdles record at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (© Getty Images)
Men's 400m hurdles
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• Three fastest men in history all clash
• Karsten Warholm in fight to retain his title
• Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos ready to go for gold
This is not usually something that a sprinter will admit, but even the world 100m champion Noah Lyles concedes that the 400m hurdles is so hot right now that it is arguably the most exciting event in the sport.
“I think the 400m hurdles men and women are definitely trying to take it (the marquee status),” Lyles said.
The men’s 400m hurdles currently has three kings.
Norway’s Karsten Warholm is the Tokyo Olympic champion, three-time world champion and world record-holder but the 28-year-old is under more pressure than ever to keep his crown. He may need to break his own world record to hold on to the title.
The challengers are US record-holder Rai Benjamin, the Tokyo silver medallist, and Brazil’s 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos. Benjamin won the only race between the three men this year at the Monaco Diamond League meeting, from Warholm and Dos Santos.
But the Brazilian bounced back to win the final lead-up race to the Games, at the London meeting, in the absence of the two others.
Benjamin holds the world lead from the US trials (46.46), ahead of Dos Santos, who set his fastest time (46.63) in defeating Warholm (46.70) in front of his home crowd in Oslo.
There is no doubt that the event is at a historical highwater mark, with three generational talents. Between them, they hold the fastest 17 times in history, and 24 of the top 25.
Warholm needed a world record to beat Benjamin in Tokyo (45.94) and the winner in Paris may well need to better that standard.
“It’s exciting to be part of history right now because what we are doing is not normal,” Benjamin said in Monaco. “I think it’s something that needs to be appreciated more, because we have taken this to the highest level of any event in the world in track and field right now.”
Dos Santos predicted the three men would put on a “nice show” in Paris. At 24, the Brazilian is the youngest of the three and said Warholm and Benjamin had forced him to lift his game.
“The times that we're doing right now, like 47.1 (in London), looks like normal now. Back in the day that was an incredible time, so what we’re doing now is just amazing.”
But he wants to be more than part of a ruling trio.
“My goal is the gold,” he said. “I’m ready for the gold. That’s what everyone is looking for. You need to be fast, you need to be ready. I guess we’re talking PBs, faster than 46.2. It’s going to be exciting.”
Win or lose, Dos Santos will be hard to miss. He intends to dye his hair purple for the Games.
“Purple is my favourite colour and the track will be purple, so I want to match,” he said.
Should any of the leading three falter, those who will join the medal hunt include world silver medallist Kyron McMaster of British Virgin Islands, the Jamaican duo of Malik James-King and Roshawn Clarke, Italian Alessandro Sibilio and perhaps French champion Wilfried Happio.
Women's 400m hurdles
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• Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Femke Bol in clash of titans
• Rushell Clayton in medal mix
• Anna Cockrell and Jasmine Jones in challenge to join teammate McLaughlin-Levrone on podium
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone breaks the world 400m hurdles record to get Olympic gold in Tokyo (© Getty Images)
There will be no bigger clash of the titans at the Paris Olympic Games than that between defending Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and reigning world champion Femke Bol in the 400m hurdles.
The athletics world has been waiting for this showdown for two years. The last time that McLaughlin-Levrone and Bol met on the track in the 400m hurdles was at the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, where the US athlete took the win and broke the world record.
She was injured and unable to compete at last year’s World Championships in Budapest, where the younger Bol claimed her first world title.
They may not have faced each other directly (they have only ever raced twice) but there is no doubt that this looming confrontation has been in both of their minds.
Since the Tokyo Olympics, where McLaughlin-Levrone set a world record of 51.46 and Bol finished with the bronze medal, each has bettered that mark three times.
McLaughlin-Levrone was the first to burst through the 51-second barrier (a respectable time for a lap of the track without 10 hurdles to negotiate) when she ran 50.68 to take the world title in Oregon.
She lowered that mark with seeming ease at the US Olympic trials this year on the same track, clocking 50.64 to prove she is back to her very best. Others might be intimidated by such a statement, but Bol was merely inspired.
She responded by registering her first sub-51 performance, a European record of 50.95 in Switzerland this month, then followed up with her second fastest time (51.30) to win the Diamond League race in London in her last hit out before the Games.
“In all honesty, I think a couple of years ago if you had told me that people would be running 50 (seconds) in the 400m hurdles, I wouldn’t have believed it and now I am one of them doing it,” said Bol.
However, she still regards McLaughlin-Levrone as the “clear favourite” for the gold medal in Paris.
“50.6 is such a crazy time, I don’t know if people understand how crazy it is to run this on hurdles,” she said.
Both women are demonstrably world class over the flat 400m as well – McLaughlin-Levrone was the world leader last year (48.75), while Bol won the world indoor title this year in a world record (49.17).
There has been much speculation about them doing the double, but when it came to the crunch, both decided to stick to their main event.
Bol has vowed to be more aggressive in Paris, admitting that it is her nature to be cautious in the first half of the race. But she knows that she cannot afford to sit back against an athlete of McLaughlin-Levrone’s calibre.
Bol also changed her stride pattern between the hurdles last year in search of more speed, and now runs 14 strides until hurdle seven, and 15 strides from there to hurdle 10. It meant she had to learn to hurdle off both legs, which was challenging initially, but she confirmed she is now comfortable with the change and convinced that it will result in higher performance.
She believes this exceptional generation of men’s and women’s 400m hurdlers are inspiring each other to new heights.
“I remember in Tokyo their final was the day before ours and it really inspired me,” Bol said. “I was like, okay, we need to do well. The men are running so great, we should also try and do our best and I think of course it inspires.”
McLaughlin-Levrone and Bol have separated themselves from the chasing pack. They are currently more than 1.5 seconds faster than the next best athlete, Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton (52.51), but with three medals available there’s still plenty to fight for.
The US duo of Anna Cockrell (52.64) and Jasmine Jones (52.77) are also in the mix, but it would be an extraordinary upset if anyone other than McLaughlin-Levrone and Bol were to take the first two medals.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics
