Alison dos Santos (© How Lao / WCH Oregon22)
The men’s 400m hurdles, if possible, got even better Tuesday night at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
While the race didn’t produce the jaw-dropping times Karsten Warholm of Norway and Rai Benjamin of the United States ran in the scintillating final at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, this version showed there are two more players to add to the mix for what looks to be an amazing future in the event.
Brazil’s Alison dos Santos, the bronze medalist behind Warholm and Benjamin in Tokyo, showed he’s at their level now by winning Tuesday in 46.29 seconds. Benjamin was second in 46.89 seconds, and his American teammate, Trevor Bassitt made a big run down the homestretch to pick up third place and the bronze medal in a personal-best 47.39 seconds.
Warholm, who won that race in Tokyo and re-set his own world record to 45.94 seconds, hadn’t completed a race all season because of a hamstring injury until he ran in the first round Saturday at the reimagined Hayward Field at the University of Oregon. His lack of training and races cost him when he ran out of gas and finished seventh in 48.42 seconds.
Despite the injury and illness problems of both Warholm and Benjamin this season, the event has been in good hands thanks to dos Santos, who focused on getting faster and being more aggressive through the first 300m so he could compete with Warholm and Benjamin.
“I did everything that I can to come here and win the World Championships,” dos Santos said, “so I was not surprised when I won. I ran really, really fast, and I was so proud of that.
“I know Warholm, and Benjamin are faster than me, they have times faster than me, so I just needed to focus on my time, my hurdles, and my race. Just have fun and enjoy the moment.”
The moment was clearly not too big for dos Santos, who just turned 22 last month. He’s been the world leader in the event for most of the season, and came to WCH Oregon22 as the only person in the field to run under 47 seconds this year after clocking 46.80 at the June 30 Diamond League meet in Stockholm, Sweden.
“When you are the favorite, you have more pressure, but that’s good to me,” dos Santos said. “I really feel good with that because then I know I can come here and win. That was not a bad thing to me, that was a good thing. That’s like motivation to me to run faster.”
Running from lane 6, dos Santos was out in front early and only Warholm ran faster through the first 200m. Dos Santos entered the home stretch in front and was never really threatened in shattering the World Athletics Championships record of 47.18 seconds set by Kevin Young of the U.S. in 1993.
Young set the world record of 46.78 seconds in winning the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, but that record is now mostly an afterthought given what Warholm, Benjamin and dos Santos have done. Benjamin ran 46.17 seconds in that Tokyo Olympics final, and dos Santos ran 46.72. Warholm and Benjamin have run under 47 seconds four times now, and dos Santos, who’s done it three times, says he’s not afraid of going faster.
“I’m so excited with that race and that time and I want to run faster than that,” dos Santos said. “Now I am even closer to the world record, so why not? If Warholm one day runs 45, me, Benjamin, and the other guys can too. Why not? Let’s make it happen.”
Benjamin wasn’t sure if he was going to make it to the start line Tuesday. Along with being bothered by COVID-19, he’s had hamstring tendonitis most of the season, including after the U.S. Championships last month that caused him to miss valuable training time leading up to the World Athletics Championships. He said the hamstring injury flared up on the backstretch Tuesday.
“I’m really hurting right now, I think I did a number on my tendon today, but it was worth it for that silver,” Benjamin said. “I’m happy with the result today given the entirety of the season with COVID, and the bad tendonitis. Unfortunately, this is the end of the road for me for this season.”
Benjamin was also bothered by a heel bruise when he finished second to Warholm at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
“I was just happy I could come out here and put on a show for the home crowd and my teammates," he said. “I found myself out of the race a little bit, but I heard the crowd erupt ‘USA, USA’ and it just helped me dig a little bit deeper and just run home, so I’m grateful.”
Benjamin was happy to see the bronze medal won by Bassitt and tackled his teammate in celebration afterward.
“I’m just happy to be his teammate and bring him alongside,” Benjamin said. “He ran a hell of race at USAs, he ran a hell of a race here today. I was more happy with his medal than I was with mine. I think I get to these team championships and I’m more about team than self, and once the team performs well, I’m happy with it.”
Bassitt said his race plan was to “run terrified,” because he was on the far outside in lane 8. He said he didn’t want anyone to pass him “until hurdle 7 or 8.”
“Obviously that didn’t happen because (Jamaica’s Jaheel) Hyde got up on me and passed me before hurdle 5, so at that point the race plan went out the window and it was just run, just try and catch people at that point,” Bassitt said. “And thankfully I had enough left for that last 100 to get by I think two or three people to sneak a medal.”
It’s been a busy year for Bassitt, who ran his 40th race of the season on Tuesday. He was the NCAA Division II indoor champion for Ashland University, the same college Olympic and World Athletics Championships pole vault gold medalist Katie Nageotte competed for, in the 60m hurdles and 400m. He also was the U.S. Indoor Championships winner in the 400m and the silver medalist in March in the indoor World Athletics Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
Bassitt was in sixth place through 300m Tuesday, and passed Warholm, Hyde and France’s Wilfried Happio over the final 100m. Happio finished fourth in a personal-best 47.41 seconds, two-hundredths behind Bassitt.
“That’s always been my motto, run hard, leave nothing to chance and that’s kind of what it came down to,” said Bassitt, who is 24 years old. “The 400 hurdles is a technical race, but at the end of the day it’s about grit and I’ve always prided myself on my toughness and grittiness. And when it comes down to the last 100 meters and I’m shoulder to shoulder with anybody, I feel like I can get them. That unwavering confidence really helped me out today.”
For Warholm, an unlikely gold medal for him wasn’t in the cards. The 2017 and 2019 World Athletics Championships gold medalist suffered a hamstring injury while going over the first hurdle in his season-opening race June 5 in Morocco, throwing his season completely off balance.
“It’s been very weird coming into these Championships and not being able to do what I can,” Warholm said. “I’ve been living on this cloud for the last three or four years where everything is just going my way. With this injury I had to do things a little bit differently and somehow, I hope that one day I can be proud of coming here given the circumstances. But it’s a bit of a weird feeling not to be able to fight for the gold today.”
There will be a lot of opportunities for dos Santos, Warholm, Benjamin, Bassitt and others to compete for gold soon though with another World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, next year, the 2024 Olympics in Paris and the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.
“Alison is carrying the event on his back right now,” Benjamin said. “I’m happy he ran fast today. We’re just going to elevate the sport. 46.2, hell of a season, 46.8 no training, I think next year is going to be pretty fast.
“Karsten is going to come back with a vengeance, too, so you have to be prepared. I'm going to take the necessary time to heal up and be strong and get ready for an even faster fight next year. USA hurdles is elevating, too, so I can’t slouch."
By Ashley Conklin
