Six days after her face-down fall five metres short of earning mixed 4x400m gold for the Netherlands, Femke Bol rose to the challenge in her signature event of the 400m hurdles, earning her first global gold in splendid isolation.
The look on Bol&rsquo;s face as she finished in 51.70, more than a second clear, spoke partly of joy, mostly of relief.
While the 23-year-old&rsquo;s painful collapse in the relay left her baffled and frustrated, she recovered her form and belief here to complete a global hat-trick of medals in the most satisfying of fashions &ndash; Olympic bronze in 2021, world silver in 2022, and now world gold.
Following Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone&rsquo;s decision not to defend the world title she won in her home setting of Oregon last year, when she left her Dutch rival halfway down the finishing straight as she improved her world record to a staggering 50.68, Bol&rsquo;s pathway has been clear.
But converting theory into practice is not always a simple matter &ndash; especially after such a shattering start to these championships; and given the presence of the mercurially talented Shamier Little of the United States, who qualified fastest for this final in 52.81.
The 28-year-old from Louisville, Kentucky ran one hundredth of a second faster tonight, which was enough to earn her a second world 400m hurdles silver to add to the one she won in Beijing eight years ago.
Bronze went to Jamaica&rsquo;s 30-year-old Rushell Clayton, who clocked a personal best of 52.81 to replicate her achievement at the 2019 World Championships in Doha.
&ldquo;It was the best run of my life,&rdquo; said Clayton. &ldquo;When I won the bronze medal in Doha, that was an easier run, I can tell you.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Now all the ladies were on fire. I was able to better my PB two times in Budapest so I cannot be happier. I knew Femke would be in front of us but the others would be close to each other so I just focused on myself. I told to myself during the race that I needed to push harder because I needed that medal.&rdquo;
Missing out on a medal by one place was Bahrain&rsquo;s Kemi Adekoya, who returned from a four-year doping ban in September last year and lowered the Asian record for a third consecutive time at these championships as she clocked 53.09.
One place behind her, in a personal best of 53.54, was 25-year-old Anna Cockrell of the United States, completing a far happier global championship experience two years after being disqualified in the Tokyo Olympic final.
On another night of muggy heat, the event brought the events of day six to a conclusion &ndash; the temperature at the start time of 9:49pm was still 27C, with humidity at 53%.
Bol had prepared for this event in spectacular fashion during the indoor season as she worked on her speed over 400m flat. To such effect that on 19 February she broke the longest standing athletics track record in the book as she clocked a world indoor record of 49.26 to win the Dutch indoor title, eclipsing the mark of 49.59 set in 1982.
The high point of her outdoor season before Budapest occurred in front of a sell-out 50,000 crowd at the London Stadium on 23 July as she ran a European and Diamond League record of 51.45.
"I've been wanting to run a 51 ever since Tokyo," she said at the time. "I had a feeling I could do it but I still can't believe I've done it."
It has been a year of firsts for the Dutch athlete, who will now set her sights on the challenge of the Paris 2024 Olympics &ndash; and McLaughlin-Levrone &ndash; with renewed confidence.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">WOMEN'S 400m HURDLES MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Femke Bol 🇳🇱 NED</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">51.70</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Shamier Little 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">52.80 SB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Rushell Clayton 🇯🇲 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">52.81 PB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://worldathletics.org/en/competitions/world-athletics-championships/budapest23/results/women/400-metres-hurdles/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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World Athletics Championships, Budapest 2023

Six days after her fall in the mixed 4x400m, Femke Bol rose to the challenge in the 400m hurdles

The fall and rise of Femke Bol – Dutch 400m hurdler earns first global gold in Budapest

The Norwegians in the crowd at the National Athletics Centre on the north bank of the Danube were still recovering from the reverberation of Jakob Ingebrigtsen&rsquo;s 1500m defeat when the country&rsquo;s other clear gold medal favourite took his place on the start line for the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles final at the end of a dramatic sixth day of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.
Surely lightning was not going to strike down a Norwegian golden boy for a second time.
Just like his compatriot, Karsten Warholm had been untouchable in the run up to the big event of the year, clocking a world-leading 46.51 at the Monaco Diamond League meeting &ndash; the second fastest time of his career behind the stunning 45.94 world record that won him Olympic gold in Tokyo.
&ldquo;Surely there is going to be somebody who challenges me,&rdquo; he pondered after coasting to victory in his semifinal.&nbsp;
Perhaps even the very best in the athletics business should be careful what they wish for. When the gun fired, that somebody stepped up in the shape of Rai Benjamin.
Warholm routinely attacks his event as if he is going to war with it. This time the Viking warrior of track and field set off with unaccustomed restraint.
It was Benjamin, the silver medal winner in Tokyo and in the previous two World Championships, and the second-fastest one-lap hurdler in history, who set off like a man possessed &ndash; closely followed by two-time Diamond League final winner Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands and Roshawn Clarke, the 19-year-old Jamaican who set a world U20 record in the semifinals.
It took Warholm until halfway to generate some serious momentum. Steadily, around the curve, he worked his way through to the front, though Benjamin was still within striking distance as they came off the bend.
The US challenger &ndash; son of the West Indies cricketer Winston Benjamin &ndash; tried to close the gap but Warholm gritted his teeth, dug deep and pulled decisively clear, crossing the line in 46.84, with McMaster coming through to take the silver in 47.38 and Benjamin the bronze in 47.56.&nbsp;
Clarke came next, fourth in 48.07, and then defending champion Alison dos Santos, the Brazilian placing a creditable fifth in 48.10 on the comeback trail following knee surgery.
Seventh in Oregon last year after an early-season hamstring tear, Warholm himself is still putting the pieces back in place. As a Legomaniac, he has built the famous Disney Castle. In his day job, he remains the king of the global castle.
Indeed, the former multi-eventer is now the first male 400m hurdler to claim the World Championships crown for a third time. The great Ed Moses only managed two, as did Felix Sanchez and Kerron McClement.
&ldquo;I feel like the gold medal is back where it belongs,&rdquo; Warholm said. &ldquo;It's an amazing feeling.
&ldquo;It was the perfect run for me. I was able to keep my form in the first 250m and I know that the guys were running their asses off and would be very tired. It was just left for me to turn on the turbos over the last 100m and the race was mine.&nbsp;
&ldquo;They went out super hard but I knew they were going to get it tough in the end. I knew I would have the most left on the home stretch.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Every gold medal means a lot to me but this one is a bit extra special because I lost it last year. I had an injury and a tough season, so it's a good little comeback story. I learned a lot from that too. I love racing, I put everything in my life into this and having an injury is tough but it also motivated me to come back and get the gold back again.&nbsp;
&ldquo;It feels a bit sweeter this year. You have to fight and I have a fighting spirit in these moments.&nbsp;It gets the best out of me. I'm still hungry for more and more. You need to have that to chase the gold medals.&rdquo;&nbsp;
McMaster was rightly overjoyed with his silver.
&ldquo;I fulfilled a part of my dream tonight,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;First thing was to get a medal. Second step was to take one of the big three. I got second today, so Warholm is still the target. But he knows that.&nbsp;
&ldquo;This means the world to my country. I have been chasing this medal since 2017. Yesterday was my mum's birthday, so she got a silver medal for that. Now she has a son who is a World Championships silver medallist.&rdquo;
And Winston Benjamin has a son who has a bronze to set alongside his silvers.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I am proud of myself but I just wanted more,&rdquo; said Rai. &ldquo;I want to prove I have it in me.
&ldquo;It has been a very tough season, dealing with a quadriceps injury, a lot of changes, a lot of distractions. I lost a close friend of mine. It was just tough. I try not to make any excuses, I try to come out and do my best.&nbsp;I am very satisfied with the first half of the race. I just cannot put the pieces together in the last half.
&ldquo;I just did not have it. I just need to be better. I just do not know what happened today.&rdquo;
What happened was that Warholm held his nerve, drew on his Viking spirit and ended up becoming the second&nbsp;Scandinavian Lego-nerd to win a world title in Budapest.
Stefan Holm, the little big man of the high jump, secured his fourth world indoor crown here in the Hungarian capital in 2004. The Swede subsequently wrote a book about his lifetime love of Lego building: Svenska sportbitar, byggt ocht berattat av Stefan Holm (Swedish sports bits, built and told by Stefan Holm).
He recreated 21 of the most iconic moments in Swedish sporting history &ndash; including Anders Garderud&rsquo;s 1976 Olympic 3000m steeplechase victory, Bjorn Borg&rsquo;s epic 1980 Wimbledon tennis victory against John McEnroe and Carolina Kluft&rsquo;s 2003 world heptathlon triumph.
Maybe Warholm could create a Norwegian version when he eventually stops going to war with the 400m hurdles.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">MEN'S 400m HURDLES MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Karsten Warholm 🇳🇴 NOR</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">46.89</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Kyron McMaster 🇻🇬 IVB</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">47.34</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Rai Benjamin 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">47.56</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://worldathletics.org/en/competitions/world-athletics-championships/budapest23/results/men/400-metres-hurdles/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Want to keep up to date during the World Championships with real-time results and statistics, the latest highlights and exclusive competitions? Then join <a href="https://worldathletics.org/inside-track" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inside Track</a> today for free!

Warholm remains the king of the global castle.

Warholm wins record third world 400m hurdles title in Budapest

Nothing could be more natural for a hurdler than to expect a career offering a series of challenges.
Such has certainly been the case for Nia Ali and Anna Cockrell, who sat alongside each other in a press conference on the eve of the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23.
In June last year, with a wild card to defend her 100m hurdles title at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, Ali said that everything was &ldquo;falling into place&rdquo; after she had returned to training following the birth of her third child.
But she was the one who took a fall when the championships began as, after establishing an early lead, she clipped the ninth hurdle in her heat and failed to clear the 10th before being officially disqualified.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64e33884b43ffa996b40ad87.jpg" alt="Nia Ali falls at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Nia Ali falls at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
A year on, Ali, now 34, has arrived in Budapest as the US champion &ndash; and with a renewed sense of her own competitive possibilities balanced with a sensible caution about the strength of the field that has been assembled.
After hearing for the first time the late news that Tobi Amusan will be defending her title, Ali made the point that the Nigerian was only one of several serious contenders.
&ldquo;Good for her &ndash; I will see her at the starting line. I&rsquo;m looking forward to some very fast racing, and there are more than just Tobi. The title could go to anybody in the final.&rdquo;
By this point in her career, Ali knows all about controlling the controllables. But controlling three young children is a different matter.
Following her victory at the World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, Ali was joined on the track by her then four-year-old son Titus and one-year-old daughter Yuri, and she and her partner Andre De Grasse have since welcomed their son Kenzo into the world.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/0e62e96e-c3e9-427f-b095-3d61fe8d919f.jpg" alt="All smiles! Nia Ali takes the 100m hurdles title at the IAAF World Championships Doha 2019" />
All smiles! Nia Ali takes the 100m hurdles title at the IAAF World Championships Doha 2019 (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
Reflecting upon the challenge of combining her roles as athlete and mother to two boys and a girl, Ali said: &ldquo;They co-exist but they don&rsquo;t exist in the same place.
&ldquo;My life is about being able to compartmentalise and to be where I am in that moment.
&ldquo;When I&rsquo;m at home, I don&rsquo;t think about the track, I have a clear space with my children.
&ldquo;And when I&rsquo;m on the track I give it my 100% focus, while my children are focused on their schooling.
&ldquo;There are heavy obligations, but I have learned to manage it.
&ldquo;My children keep me very humble. They are straight shooters! They watch my races on TV and if I don&rsquo;t win, they tell me all about it.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s like: &lsquo;You fell last time &ndash; I thought you were going to go out there and win!&rsquo;
&ldquo;But when I come home from training, they say how proud they are. I think they understand the competitive nature.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited that they are going to be here in Budapest. They&rsquo;re getting their hair done, getting their outfits, putting the pressure on me, waiting for their moments!&rdquo;
Like Ali, Cockrell also experienced the downside of life in her last outing at a global championships.
After earning a place at the Tokyo Olympics by finishing third in the 400m hurdles at the US Trials in a personal best of 53.70, she followed through in Japan by reaching the final, where she finished seventh, only to be later disqualified after officials discovered she had made a lane violation.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/64e3375db43ffa996b40ad84.jpg" alt="Anna Cockrell in action at the Tokyo Olympic Games" />
Anna Cockrell in action at the Tokyo Olympic Games (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
This summer Cockrell has again risen to the challenge at the US Trials, securing her place by finishing third &ndash; this time behind Shamier Little and 2016 Olympic and 2019 world champion Dalilah Muhammad.
The 25-year-old from San Ramon, California, who won the world U20 400m hurdles title in 2016 and added Pan American Games silver in 2019, is also an accomplished performer in the shorter hurdles event.
&ldquo;I trained over 100m hurdles this year,&rdquo; said Cockerell, who has a PB of 12.54, set en route to a double hurdles victory at the 2021 NCAA Championships. &ldquo;I love it. I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s something I will ever let go of, even if I do eventually choose to focus on the 400m hurdles.
&ldquo;I definitely want to double in the future. Both events are unbelievably competitive, but when the timing is right, I am going to be there. It&rsquo;s something I look forward to.&rdquo;
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

Nothing could be more natural for a hurdler than to expect a career offering a series of challenges.

Hurdlers Ali and Cockrell keen to make amends in Budapest

<h2>Men's 400m hurdles</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/budapest23/timetable/bydiscipline/men/400-metres-hurdles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/400mh/men" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles/outdoor/men/senior/2023?regionType=world&amp;timing=electronic&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2023 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles/outdoor/men/senior" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
Olympic champion and world record-holder Karsten Warholm laid down a huge marker of his ambition to regain the 400m hurdles title at the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 when he set a Diamond League record of 46.51 in Monaco on 21 July.
The 27-year-old Norwegian said before his race that his experience at last year&rsquo;s World Championships in Oregon, where he finished seventh after recovering from a hamstring injury incurred in his opening meeting of the season, has been a strong motivating factor this year.
"It was really nice to do this again &ndash; that 0.01 off the Diamond League record and also the track record," Warholm said after a performance that also bettered his own top world mark for 2023.
"This is a nice timing as the World Championships is just around the corner. Since I was injured last year, I enjoyed the racing more."
In his wake was the Brazilian who took over the world title he had won in 2017 and 2019, Alison dos Santos, who clocked a season&rsquo;s best of 47.66.
Dos Santos, who finished third in the Tokyo Olympic final, has had to recover from a serious injury early this year in the form of a torn meniscus in his right knee which required surgery. At the time it appeared his season was over before it had started, but he returned to top class action at the Silesia Diamond League meeting on 16 July, where he finished third in the 400m in 44.73. And in his first race over the hurdles in Monaco the 23-year-old from Sao Paulo did enough to stir his World Championships ambitions.
"That was the perfect opportunity for me to come back to run,&rdquo; he said. "Now I will get ready for Budapest, to be able to win my world title again."
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d791739a225fb263f36301.jpg" alt="Alison dos Santos wins the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Alison dos Santos wins the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
But Warholm and Dos Santos are not the only ones with world gold in their sights as Rai Benjamin is equally determined to make a breakthrough in Budapest.
The 26-year-old US athlete took silver behind Warholm at the Doha 2019 World Championships, and bettered the Norwegian&rsquo;s world record of 46.70 in the Tokyo Olympic final where he clocked 46.17 and took another silver as Warholm reached deeper to set the current world record of 45.94.
Last year, with Warholm still a way off full fitness following a hamstring strain after clearing the first hurdle of his first race of 2022 at the Rabat Diamond League meeting, Benjamin must have thought his chance had come to make a golden impression on his home track in Eugene, Oregon &ndash; but Dos Santos won with a South American record of 46.29, with the home runner clocking 46.89.
How close can the Brazilian get to his best form in the time available? At the moment his is only fifth fastest in this season&rsquo;s list, with two other runners above him &ndash; Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands, the double Commonwealth champion and fourth-placed finisher in Tokyo who has clocked 47.26, and CJ Allen of the United States, who has set a personal best of 47.58.
Others likely to make their mark include France&rsquo;s Ludvy Vaillant, who has run a personal best of 47.85 this season, as has Jamaica&rsquo;s Roshawn Clarke, and 31-year-old Rasmus Magi of Estonia, European silver medallist in 2014 who has run 48.04 this season.
Look out too for Italy&rsquo;s 24-year-old 2018 world U20 champion Alessandro Sibilio, a Tokyo Olympic Games finalist.
&nbsp;
<h2>Women's 400m hurdles</h2>
<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/budapest23/timetable/bydiscipline/women/400-metres-hurdles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Timetable</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/world-rankings/400mh/women" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world rankings</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/toplists/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles/outdoor/women/senior/2023?regionType=world&amp;timing=electronic&amp;page=1&amp;bestResultsOnly=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2023 world list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles/outdoor/women/senior" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world all-time list</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/disciplines/hurdles/400-metres-hurdles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">how it works</a>
By contrast, the women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles would appear to offer one key question &ndash; how much faster can Femke Bol go?
Following Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone&rsquo;s decision not to defend the world title she won in her home setting of Oregon last year, when she left her Dutch rival halfway down the finishing straight as she improved her world record to a staggering 50.68, Bol&rsquo;s pathway has been clear.
The Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist prepared for the 400m hurdles in spectacular fashion during the indoor season as she worked on her speed over 400m flat. To such effect that on 19 February she broke the longest standing athletics track record in the book as she clocked 49.26 to win the Dutch indoor title, eclipsing the mark of 49.59&nbsp;set in 1982.
The high point of her season so far occurred in front of a sell-out 50,000 crowd at the London Stadium on 23 July as she ran a European and Diamond League record of 51.45.
"I've been wanting to run a 51 ever since Tokyo," said the 23-year-old. "I had a feeling I could do it but I still can't believe I've done it."
Her time was one hundredth of a second faster than McLaughlin-Levrone ran to win the Tokyo Olympic title in a race where Bol finished third behind the defending champion Dalilah Muhammad.
It was only four hundredths of a second slower than the world record McLaughlin-Levrone set at last year&rsquo;s US trials in Oregon.
But it was the best part of a second slower than the current world mark of 50.68 run by her rival at last year&rsquo;s World Athletics Championships. Such is the measure of the challenge for this amiable Dutch athlete.
While McLaughlin-Levrone will be absent from the event &ndash; and indeed the championships because of a late knee issue &ndash; her predecessor as world and Olympic champion, Muhammad, will be present, albeit that the 33-year-old&rsquo;s season&rsquo;s best of 53.53 only has her at fifth place in this season&rsquo;s world list.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/16e69db4-49e7-458d-9378-50dfbbd73182.jpg" alt="Dalilah Muhammad en route to the world record in the 400m hurdles at the IAAF World Championships Doha 2019" />
Dalilah Muhammad at the World Championships Doha 2019 (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
Muhammad&rsquo;s US colleague Shamier Little, whose 2021 personal best of 52.39 has her at fifth place in the all-time list, will also be a medal contender, as will the Jamaican trio of Andrenette Knight, who has clocked 53.26 this season; Janieve Russell, with a 2023 best of 53.65; and Rushell Clayton, who has clocked 53.79.
Look out too for Britain&rsquo;s Jessie Knight, who has run a personal best of 54.09 this season, and Viktoriya Tkachuk of Ukraine, who has a best of 53.76.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

Expected highlights in the men's and women's 400m hurdles

WCH Budapest 23 preview: 400m hurdles

World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that Olympic and world medallist Calvin Davis died on Monday (1) at the age of 51.
While Davis&rsquo;s greatest Olympic success came in the 400m hurdles, an event in which he won bronze at the 1996 Games in Atlanta during his debut season in the discipline, the US athlete started out in the 400m flat and his early achievements included claiming two NCAA 400m titles for the University of Arkansas. He went on to form part of USA&rsquo;s gold medal-winning 4x400m team at the 1995 World Indoor Championships in Barcelona.
Davis was born on 2 April 1972 in Eutaw, Alabama, and he attended Dorchester High School, where he excelled both on the track and playing American football. He then went to Wallace State Community College before transferring to the University of Arkansas.
Running for the University of Arkansas, Davis won the NCAA 400m title outdoors in 1993, clocking 45.04 in New Orleans &ndash; a time that would remain his personal best. The following year he also captured the NCAA indoor 400m crown, running 46.18 in Indianapolis.
Davis won his third NCAA title as part of Arkansas&rsquo; distance medley relay squad, when he ran the 400m leg and teamed up with Niall Bruton, Brian Baker and Graham Hood to clock 9:30.07 in 1994.
Further relay success was to follow on the world stage. In 1995, Davis combined with Rod Tolbert, Tod Long and Frankie Atwater to win the 4x400m at the World Indoor Championships in Spain, where he also finished sixth in the individual 400m.
Davis made his 400m hurdles debut the following year and it didn&rsquo;t take long for him to make his mark. In just his seventh ever race in the discipline, he finished third at the US Championships, also held in Atlanta, clocking a PB of 48.32 to secure his place on the team for the Olympic Games the following month. Once there, he won his heat and semifinal, recording a personal best of 47.91.
He then returned to run 47.96 in the final, finishing strong to claim bronze behind his teammate Derrick Adkins and Zambia&rsquo;s Samuel Matete.
Davis went on to compete at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton and moved into coaching, sharing his experience with the next generation.
World Athletics

Calvin Davis, 1972-2023

Olympic and world medallist Davis dies

Qatar&rsquo;s Mutaz Barshim and Abderrahman Samba will get their 2023 Wanda Diamond League campaigns under way on home soil when they compete in the season opener in Doha on 5 May.
Barshim won a third world high jump title in Oregon last year, adding another honour to a CV that includes the joint Olympic crown he claimed alongside Gianmarco Tamberi in Tokyo.
The Olympic Games final in Tokyo was Samba&rsquo;s most recent 400m hurdles race, the 2019 world bronze medallist having injured his hamstring while warming up for the Doha event last May. That injury ruled him out for the whole of 2022.
&ldquo;Whenever I step on the track, I always want to give my best, that has been the case since my first Diamond League appearance back in Doha, 2011,&rdquo; said Barshim, who set the Asian high jump record of 2.43m &ndash; placing him No.2 on the world all-time list &ndash; in 2014.
&ldquo;High jump is my passion and I want to make sure that my name is mentioned whenever high jump is mentioned. I&rsquo;ve made history being on top of my game for the past decade, but I still thrive for more. The 2023 season is about to begin, and I have set my own goals and targets to chase. The World Championships in Budapest and the Asian Games in China are my top targets for the season.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s important that I prioritise my health and stay consistent with a routine that works for me,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;My training in Qatar went smoothly over the winter and I look forward to my Wanda Diamond League season opener in Doha."
Samba set his Asian 400m hurdles record of 46.98 in 2018 &ndash; a time that places him fifth on the world all-time list.
&ldquo;The Doha Meeting will be my first major competition since Tokyo 2021 and will provide a good starting point as I build towards the World Championships this summer,&rdquo; said Samba. &ldquo;I was in good shape this time last year and I was disappointed to miss out on the World Championships, but I&rsquo;ve had a consistent block of training and I&rsquo;m healthy and ready to race.
&ldquo;The 400m hurdles is one of the most exciting events on the programme right now and I want to be back in the mix.&rdquo;
The 2023 Wanda Diamond League calendar includes a total of 14 meetings, starting with the event in Doha and concluding with the two-day final in Eugene on 16-17 September.
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/diamond-league/calendar-results?season=2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full 2023 Diamond League calendar</a>

Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim and Abderrahman Samba will get their 2023 Wanda Diamond League campaigns under way on home soil

Home stars Barshim and Samba seek success in Doha

A look back at the key moments of 2022 in the hurdles and steeplechase

2022 review: hurdles and steeplechase

Perhaps the best way to start, in telling the story of Alison Dos Santos, is with the words of the two men he deposed at the top of the 400m hurdles tree at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
Shortly after the 22-year-old Brazilian blitzed his rivals to win the 400m hurdles at Hayward Field, clocking the third fastest time in history with 46.29, Olympic champion Karsten Warholm and silver medallist Rai Benjamin were asked for their thoughts on the new king of this domain.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s been huge,&rdquo; said Warholm, who faded to seventh place in 48.42, a mid-season hamstring tear leaving him short of peak fitness. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s been running and getting a lot of self-confidence and we can see it today. I know what it takes to be running that type of time and, even though I wanted it to be me, I&rsquo;m happy for him. It&rsquo;s his day.&rdquo;
Benjamin, who took silver in 46.89 &ndash; an astonishing performance given he missed several weeks&rsquo; training due to injuries and a severe bout of Covid-19 &ndash; said Dos Santos is &ldquo;carrying the event on his back right now,&rdquo; and the US star knows next year could produce major fireworks if all three are back at full capacity.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy he ran fast,&rdquo; said Benjamin. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to elevate the sport: 46.2 &ndash; (that&rsquo;s) one hell of a season. Next year is going to be pretty fast. Karsten is going to come back with a vengeance. I&rsquo;m going to take the necessary time to heal up, be strong, and be ready for a hell of a fight.&rdquo;
If his rivals were gracious in defeat, then Dos Santos was equally gracious in victory, noting how Warholm&rsquo;s time in Tokyo had shown him what was possible.
&ldquo;If he can run 45, me, Benjamin and other guys can too,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s dream of that day &ndash; and make it happen.&rdquo; 
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 Before this year, no Brazilian man had ever won gold at the outdoor World Championships &ndash; with pole vaulter Fabiana Murer in 2011 the only woman to do so &ndash; and Dos Santos knows this victory could be a game-changer for athletics back home.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m the first guy and that&rsquo;s pretty awesome, to open the door so everybody can see that they can,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They can come here and win. That&rsquo;s not impossible.&rdquo;
As a kid, things were different, and Dos Santos &ldquo;never thought this would be possible.&rdquo;
He grew up in Sao Joaquim da Barra, an area in the north of Sao Paulo, and he faced adversity early in life. When he was 10 months old, an accident at his grandparents&rsquo; home involving a frying pan of hot oil that spilled on his head left him with third-degree burns, confining him to a hospital for four months.
His first sport was judo, which he practised from the age of six to 14. &ldquo;I loved that, I really loved that,&rdquo; he said. But there was one problem: his family didn&rsquo;t have much money, and it became harder and harder to justify a sport where each training session cost money and offered little potential for return.
&ldquo;My family is not a rich family, so it was hard,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In track and field we saw an opportunity to make money and run and go to nationals and win a medal, and we needed that. I started because of this but after a couple of months I loved it. I made new friends around the city, the states, the country, and now I do it because I love the sport.&rdquo; 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/003e8837-dfad-4567-8072-ba497c9f3407.jpg" alt="Alison dos Santos at the IAAF World U20 Championships Tampere 2018" />
Alison dos Santos at the IAAF World U20 Championships Tampere 2018 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 In 2017, he finished fifth in the 400m hurdles at the World U18 Championships in Kenya and the following year he earned bronze at the World U20 Championships in Finland, clocking 49.78. In 2019 he won the World University title in 48.57 and then, while still an U20 athlete, he made the world final in Doha, clocking 48.28.
The pandemic put paid to his plans for 2020, but Dos Santos used that period to train and physically mature, and in 2021 he emerged better than ever, breaking the South American record six times &ndash; the last of those coming in the Olympic final, where he clocked 46.72 to take bronze.
That catapulted him to fame in Brazil, but it was only when he returned home that he understood the true impact of his medal. Dos Santos was approached everywhere he went by those telling him their memories of the race, with one guy telling him he&rsquo;d received a fine due to making excessive noise late at night as he screamed at Dos Santos on TV.
During the World Championships Dos Santos felt all that love again, the thousands of comments and messages pouring his way from his fans at home. &ldquo;The Brazilians are amazing &ndash; I love them,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They send good energy.&rdquo;
Heading to Eugene, Dos Santos wanted to win it for them as much as himself. His training had gone better than ever. For much of the year, he is based in Chula Vista, USA, training under the guidance of Brazilian coach Felipe Siqueira.
&ldquo;He was an athlete, he did the triple jump, but he was a really, really bad athlete,&rdquo; laughs Dos Santos. &ldquo;But he&rsquo;s good at coaching.&rdquo; 
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 In 2021 Dos Santos used to run with 12 strides to the second hurdle, but it&rsquo;s a sign of his progress that he can now sustain that stride pattern until hurdle four. As good as Tokyo was, he felt he needed to find more to win gold in Eugene.
&ldquo;I changed a lot about my race,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I tried to be faster, I worked on my speed, my technique over the hurdles.&rdquo;
And it all came together in Eugene. Dos Santos went to the line as the favourite, a position he was happy to occupy. &ldquo;You have more pressure, but that&rsquo;s good to me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was motivation.&rdquo;
Before the race, Dos Santos danced on the track, his choice of jig inspired by a social media post by World Athletics the morning of his race, which superimposed his, Benjamin&rsquo;s and Warholm&rsquo;s faces on a dancing trio.
&ldquo;It was so funny that I said, &lsquo;why not?&rsquo; I did the same dance to have fun and enjoy.&rdquo;
But when the gun fired, he was all business, powering through the first half quicker than everyone besides Warholm. But on the top bend the Norwegian&rsquo;s missed training began to tell, whereas Dos Santos&rsquo;s consistent brilliance this year was elevating itself to a new level.
He joined Warholm at hurdle eight, pulled clear by hurdle nine and continued to build his advantage until he hit the line in a championship record of 46.29, beating his chest and taking a well-earned bow in front of the fans. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d791739a225fb263f36301.jpg" alt="Alison dos Santos wins the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22" />
Alison dos Santos wins the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 (&copy; Getty Images)
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 Was it the perfect race?
&ldquo;No, no, it can be better,&rdquo; he smiled. &ldquo;It can always be better. My last hurdles, I can be better. And my second curve, it can be better.&rdquo;
Which begs the question: Is Warholm&rsquo;s world record of 45.94 next on the agenda?
&ldquo;The question is not if we can do it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s when.&rdquo;
He knows his two brilliant rivals have helped push him to this level, and Dos Santos also knows it&rsquo;s easier to get to the top than to stay there.
&ldquo;The guys from 400m hurdles, we push the limits,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now you have to run so fast to win. If you want to win the World Championships, you need to dream (of) the record, dream of 45.&rdquo;
Once he&rsquo;d completed his media duties, Dos Santos made his way up to the local restaurant, Track Town Pizza, to enjoy a meal he&rsquo;d been looking forward to all week. He also called his family in Brazil and was particularly pleased to see his baby niece, who was born just a few days ago.
&ldquo;I do everything for my family, my nephew, my niece,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to make a great life for my family, to make history, and I need to run fast to help them.&rdquo;
The motivation now is much the same as it was in the beginning, even if everything else has changed. These days he&rsquo;s no longer a contender, but the champion.
And now that he has &ldquo;opened the door for Brazilian guys&rdquo; at this level, there should be many more walking through it in the years to come.&nbsp;
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

How the 22-year-old Brazilian became the new king of the 400m hurdles

Dos Santos - clearing barriers to pave the way for future stars

More than 1500 athletes from 145 teams are set to compete at the World Athletics U20 Championships Cali 22 between 1-6 August.
Here we take a look at the women's and men's hurdles and steeplechase events at the Pascual Guerrero Olympic Stadium. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles</h2>
She may be the second youngest in the field, but there&rsquo;s every chance that when the women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles reaches its climax, Jamaica&rsquo;s Kerrica Hill will be first across the line. The 17-year-old was an ultra-impressive winner of the Jamaican U20 title in 12.98 (1.5m/s) last month and, with 11.16 100m flat speed in her armoury, she will be tough to stop if getting things right technically. She will be backed up by teammate Alexis James, who clocked a PB of 13.13 last month to make the team for Cali.
The US challenge will be led by Jalaysiya Smith, who ran her PB of 13.05 (0.5m/s) in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships and who went on to win the US U20 title last month in 13.21. She will be joined by teammate Eddiyah Frye, who clocked 13.26 to finish second to Smith and make the team for Cali last month. Germany&rsquo;s Hawa Jalloh has also been in sparkling form of late, clocking a PB of 13.23 to win her national U20 title last earlier this month and she should also feature.
With next year&rsquo;s World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 starting to loom on the horizon, Hungary could well have a teenage hurdler competing on home turf there, given the progress of Anna Toth, who clocked a national U20 record of 13.23 (0.5m/s) last month and will take her shot at the world&rsquo;s best teenagers in Cali. The British charge will be led by Marli Jessop, who has a best of 13.38 this year. Others to have gone below 13.50 this season are Spain&rsquo;s Paula Blanquer, Britain&rsquo;s Mia McIntosh, Germany&rsquo;s Naomi Krebs and Czech Republic&rsquo;s Ester Bendova. 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles</h2>
Dutch teenager Matthew Sophia walked away from last year&rsquo;s European U20 Championships with two silver medals &ndash; in the 110m hurdles and 4x100m relay &ndash; but the 18-year-old looks to have a great chance of going one better in Cali if he shows up in the same form he showed earlier this year. The Rotterdam Atletiek athlete tops the world U20 lists via his Dutch U20 record of 13.23 (-0.4m/s) in March, though he has raced little since winning the Carifta Games title in Jamaica in mid-April in 13.74.
The US challenge will be led by national U20 champion Malik Mixon, who won that title with a wind-assisted time of 13.26 (2.6m/s) last month. He will be joined in Cali by teammate TJ Caldwell, who clocked 13.34 at the US U20 Championships and who has run a wind-legal best of 13.40 this year. Czech Republic&rsquo;s Stepan Schubert should also be a big threat, having clocked 13.40 to win his national U20 title last month. Jamaica&rsquo;s Dishaun Lamb, South Africa&rsquo;s Denmar Jacobs and Bahamas&rsquo; Antoine Andrews have all run well below 13.50 this year and should all be in the hunt for a spot in the final. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles</h2>
Italy&rsquo;s Alessia Seramondi is the quickest athlete among the 48 entries in the women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles, lowering her PB to 57.29 when winning her national U20 title in 57.29 in Rieti. US U20 champion Akala Garrett is another sure to be in the hunt for medals. She clocked a world U18 lead of 57.46 when winning the US high school title in Eugene last month. She will be backed up by teammate Michaela Rose, the LSU student who juggles the 400m hurdles, where she has a best of 57.62, with the 800m, where she has a best of 2:02.49.
Japan has a strong contender in Moe Matsuoka, the 19-year-old who finished third at her national senior championships last month in 57.57. &nbsp;Jamaica&rsquo;s Oneika McAnnuff has run 57.68 this season and could also be in the medal shake-up, along with Czech Republic&rsquo;s Ester Bendova (57.90) and Italy&rsquo;s Ludovica Cavo (57.94). The Polish duo of Wiktoria Oko and Aleksandra Wolczak should also go close &ndash; both have run 58.03 this year. 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles</h2>
Turkey&rsquo;s Berke Akcam took gold in this event at the last edition of the World U20 Championships in Nairobi, and his nation has a strong change of retaining that title this year through Ismail Nezir, who lowered his PB to 49.59 last month at the Mediterranean Games. Just one athlete in the field has gone quicker than that &ndash; Roshawn Clarke of Jamaica, who set his PB of 49.39 when winning his national U20 title in Kingston last month, while his teammate Antonio Forbes shouldn&rsquo;t be far away given he has run 50.48 this year.
Slovenia&rsquo;s Matic Ian Gucek finished fifth in last year&rsquo;s world U20 final and the 18-year-old will be looking to get on the podium here, which he looks capable of doing after his national U20 record of 49.72 to win the Slovenian senior title last month.
Yeral Nunez of Dominican Republic is another who has been in fine form, setting a national U20 record of 50.07 last month. The Asian challenge is led by Japan&rsquo;s Daiki Ogawa, who has run 50.50 this year, and he will be backed up by compatriot Sojiro Moritaka, who has run 50.71. Qatar&rsquo;s Ismail Doudai Abakar is another worthy of respect &ndash; a 50.62 athlete this season. 
<h2>Women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase</h2>
Ethiopia&rsquo;s rise in the steeplechase has been moving at a swift pace in recent years and they have a strong contender for the world U20 champion in Sembo Almayew. The 17-year-old has been in sparkling form this season, finishing second at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Paris in 9:09.19 last month before finishing fifth in her heat at the World Championships in Oregon. She will be joined in Cali by Meseret Yeshaneh, who has a best of 9:33.34.
Kenya, unsurprisingly, will likely provide the stiffest opposition in the event they historically ruled like no other. Their challenge will be led by Faith Cherotich, the 18-year-old who won bronze at the last edition of these championships in Nairobi and who clocked a noteworthy 9:12.04 at altitude in the Kenyan capital back in May. She will be joined in Cali by teammate Pamela Kosgei, who has run 9:54.20 this year.
The European challenge will be led by Spain&rsquo;s Marta Serrano, who was sixth in the last world U20 final in Nairobi and who lowered her PB to 9:48.64 last month.
Morocco&rsquo;s Khadija Ennasri has run 10:00.49 this year, while Tunisia&rsquo;s Rihab Dhahri has run 10:03.15. Peru&rsquo;s Veronica Huacasi, Hungary&rsquo;s Greta Varga and Germany&rsquo;s Carolin Hinrichs have all run below 10:15 and will be a targeting a place in the final at the very least.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
<h2>Men&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase</h2>
Morocco has the current world and Olympic champion in the men&rsquo;s steeplechase in Soufiane El Bakkali, and in Salaheddine Ben Yazide the nation has an athlete who could one day follow in his footsteps. The 19-year-old tops the world U20 lists with the 8:19.63 he ran at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rabat back in June and Yazide gained some top-level experience at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 earlier this month, finishing 13th in the heats. Ethiopia&rsquo;s Samuel Firewu is just behind him on the world U20 lists via the 8:19.82 he ran in Ostrava back in May and he backed that up with a fifth-place finish at the African Championships last month. He will be joined by compatriot Samuel Duguna, who has a best of 8:27.40 this season.
Kenya has long proven tough to stop in the hunt for steeplechase medals and their challenge will be led in Cali by Emmanuel Wafula, who has run 8:42.25 this season, and Haron Kibet, who has run 8:43.82.
Uganda has a pair of strong entrants in Elphas Toroitich Ndiwa and Leonard Chemutai, who have run 8:37.3 and 8:40.6 respectively this year, while the US challenge is led by Bryce Lentz who has run 8:39.73. Others to look out for include Japanese duo Ryotaro Onuma and Asahi Kuroda, along with Algeria&rsquo;s Abderrahmane Daoud &ndash; all three have all dipped below 8:50 this year.&nbsp;
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

World Athletics U20 Championships

A look at the 100m hurdles, 110m hurdles, 400m hurdles and 3000m steeplechase

WU20 Cali 22 preview: hurdles and steeplechase

Sydney McLaughlin has done it again. For the fourth time in her remarkable 400m hurdles career, the 22-year-old has broken the world record, obliterating her previous best with 50.68 at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 on Friday (22).
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unreal,&rdquo; she said trackside, with the Hayward Field crowd looking on in awe. &ldquo;I just wanted to run and go for it.&rdquo;
She certainly went for it. Shaving 0.73 from her previous world record, set on the same track less than a month earlier, she left her rivals &ndash; including two of the three fastest hurdlers the world has ever seen &ndash; with no response as she won her first world title in the event by more than a one-and-a-half seconds.
Netherlands&rsquo; Olympic bronze medallist Femke Bol &ndash; No.3 on the all-time list &ndash; followed her over the finish line in 52.27 to equal her season&rsquo;s best, while USA&rsquo;s former world record-holder Dalilah Muhammad &ndash; No.2 all time &ndash; clocked 53.13 for bronze.
It is the third world record that McLaughlin has set at Hayward Field. Her first came at the 2021 US Olympic Trials, when she clocked 51.90 to improve on the 52.16 global mark that Muhammad had achieved when winning the 2019 world title ahead of her compatriot.
Just over a month later, McLaughlin ran 51.46 to win the Olympic title in Tokyo, and she broke the record for a third time at this year&rsquo;s US Championships in Eugene on 25 June, clocking 51.41.
Such is the standard, this latest world record time would put McLaughlin 19th on this season&rsquo;s top list for the 400m flat. Yet the US hurdles star achieved it with 10 barriers in the way.
&nbsp;
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 She reached the first of those barriers at roughly the same point as Muhammad made hers, and they remained pretty evenly matched at the second hurdle. But from that point on, the race looked like it would only be going one way.
With Muhammad to her right and Bol to her left, McLaughlin caught her compatriot along the back straight and blazed past her heading into the curve. By the time she left the bend, it was McLaughlin against the clock and time seemed to stand still as she surged ever closer.
Behind her, Bol drew level and then overtook Muhammad as they entered the home straight, McLaughlin striding away in the distance.
The question wasn&rsquo;t whether McLaughlin was going to break the world record, but by just how much. With the crowd on their feet, the answer soon came as the scoreboard showed 50.68.
Since 2019 &ndash; in less than three years &ndash; the world record has been improved by almost two seconds. That mark of 52.34 had stood for 16 years before Muhammad took it to 52.20 and then 52.16. On 27 June 2021, McLaughlin began her reign.
Now that previous world record mark of 52.34 is just 14th on the world all-time list.
&ldquo;The time is absolutely amazing and the sport is getting faster and faster,&rdquo; McLaughlin said of her latest performance. &ldquo;Just figuring out what barriers can be broken. I only get faster from here.
&ldquo;I executed the race the way Bobby (Kersee, her coach) wanted me to. I knew coming home that if I just kept my cadence and stayed on stride pattern, we could do it and it happened.
&ldquo;The level in the 400m hurdles is certainly improving. We have a full group of girls that are willing to push our bodies to the next level and we are seeing times drop.&rdquo;
In line with World Athletics&rsquo; commitment to further advance gender equality in the sport, the women&rsquo;s world record programme in Oregon is being supported by World Athletics as part of its International Women&rsquo;s Day #WeGrowAthletics pledge, and this saw McLaughlin receive a cheque for US$100,000 along with her gold medal.
Securing silver after a strong finish was Bol, and the 22-year-old was delighted to go one better than her Olympic bronze.
&ldquo;I ran against the best in the world, Sydney is just very strong,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;She was so far in front at the end, so I was always doubting if I really had a good race because it felt very good. Then I saw the time and I was like: &lsquo;Wow&rsquo;. It is amazing to be a part of it and to come out second in such a race.&rdquo;
For Muhammad, it is a fourth world 400m hurdles medal and she has now completed the set after gold in 2019, silver in 2013 and 2017 and now bronze in 2022.
&ldquo;I'm having mixed emotions, to be honest,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It's great to get a medal but I came into these championships on the strength of having always gotten a medal at any championships, despite any injuries. But as a competitor, you always want more.&rdquo;
US athletes filled four of the top five spots, with 2015 world silver medallist Shamier Little fourth in 53.76 and Britton Wilson fifth in 54.02.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">WOMEN'S 400m HURDLES MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Sydney McLaughlin 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">50.68 WR</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Femke Bol 🇳🇱 NED</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">52.27 =SB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Dalilah Muhammad 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">53.13 SB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/results/women/400-metres-hurdles/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

World Athletics Championships, Oregon 2022

US hurdles superstar becomes the first to go sub-51 seconds in the event

McLaughlin obliterates world 400m hurdles record with 50.68 in Oregon

It had been one of the most anticipated races of the year: a rematch of the Olympic men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles final between Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin.
Could they possibly live up to the epic Tokyo final, in which both men finished inside the world record and the Norwegian took the gold in a staggering 45.94 ahead of the American in 46.17.
Not quite.
Brazil&rsquo;s Alison dos Santos upended the script on Tuesday night (19), surging to the front on the final bend and pulling away to the gold in a championship record of 46.29 at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
Not that the victory itself was particularly a surprise; the 22-year-old Dos Santos had been the best performer all year and he proved it on this night. He claimed his first world title and became the first South American to win a medal in this event at the World Championships.
And he did it by running the third-fastest time in history and setting a Brazilian, South American and US all-comers&rsquo; record.
&ldquo;I am so happy. The energy of the crowd was amazing,&rdquo; Dos Santos said. &ldquo;I felt their love, people hugging me. When you win, you start being everyone's favourite.&rdquo;
Benjamin, whose season had been disrupted by a bout of Covid-19 and tendonitis in his upper hamstring, took global silver for a third time, clocking 46.89. US teammate Trevor Bassitt out-leaned Wilfried Happio of France to grab the bronze in a personal best of 47.39.
Happio&rsquo;s fourth place time of 47.41 was faster than Warholm&rsquo;s wining time in Doha in 2019, and would have been enough to win 14 of the past 17 world titles.
For two-time defending champion Warholm, it was a humbling night. Having only recently returned to action after tearing a hamstring in early June, the Norwegian stumbled at the eighth hurdle and faded to seventh place in 48.42, covering his face in his hands in dejection after crossing the line.
Warholm hadn&rsquo;t finished a final in more than 10 months, and this was the first time he lost a race that he completed since the 2018 Continental Cup.
&ldquo;It was a very tough race,&rdquo; Warholm said. &ldquo;I had an injury but to me it's always your fight and giving your all and leaving it all on the track. I felt I did that. I hope looking back I'll feel proud of that, even though I prefer to take a medal.
&ldquo;I did a lot of hard work to get back to the championships but it wasn't enough,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;These guys do the same as me. They train every day and fight hard. I have huge respect for them. I will always give them a fight which is what I live for. Today is their day and I hope they enjoy it.&rdquo;
Dos Santos had finished third behind Warholm and Benjamin in Tokyo, but he came into these championships undefeated this year and having posted a world-leading 46.80 in Stockholm. He also defeated Benjamin in Doha in May.
On this night, Dos Santos maintained his smooth stride and technique throughout the race. He was even with Warholm through the halfway mark, then pulled away in imperious style over the final stretch.
&ldquo;That's pretty awesome to win the world title on this track,&rdquo; Dos Santos said. &ldquo;I didn't care about the time because this is the first time I won a world title. I think I can run faster. I don't think you will have a perfect race. I'll always look for ways to improve.&rdquo;
Benjamin tried to keep pace with Dos Santos on the final straight but couldn&rsquo;t gain ground.
&ldquo;My season has been rough, but I dug deep and it turned out this way,&rdquo; Benjamin said. &ldquo;I am grateful for silver. I got it done. I chopped a few hurdles and my race plan went out the window, but when I heard 'USA! USA!&rsquo; I ran as fast as I could to keep my second place.&rdquo;
The 24-year-old Bassitt, who won silver in the 400m at this year&rsquo;s World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, dipped at the line to edge Happio in the third-fastest bronze-medal time ever recorded at the World Championships.
When the scoreboard flashed Bassitt&rsquo;s name as the third-place finisher, Benjamin leapt on his back and the two tumbled on to the track.
&ldquo;To come out here, run a PB on the biggest stage and get a bronze, it's all I could ask for,&rdquo; Bassitt said. &ldquo;You can't do any better than your best and I think a medal is an incredible blessing. Sometimes you just have to run fast and that's what happened today. It's unbelievable. My first world outdoor championships to make a final and get a medal, it's not something a lot of people can say.&rdquo;
Dos Santos, meanwhile, was thinking of how he would celebrate his breakthrough title.
&ldquo;I will eat pizza at the athletes' village,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Many people have recommended it to me. Today I think I can drink soda.&rdquo;
He deserves it.
Steve Wilson for World Athletics
&nbsp;
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 75%; border-color: #ffffff; border-style: solid;" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="3">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #fd5249; text-align: center;" colspan="3">MEN'S 400m HURDLES MEDALLISTS</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #e9c968; text-align: center;">🥇</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #e9c968;">Alison dos Santos 🇧🇷 BRA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #e9c968;">46.29 CR</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #ced4d9; text-align: center;">🥈</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #ced4d9;">Rai Benjamin 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #ced4d9;">46.89 SB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 10%; background-color: #bd895e; text-align: center;">🥉</td>
<td style="width: 60%; background-color: #bd895e;">Trevor Bassitt 🇺🇸 USA</td>
<td style="width: 30%; background-color: #bd895e;">47.39 PB</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="background-color: #34495e; text-align: left;" colspan="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;<a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-championships/oregon22/results/men/400-metres-hurdles/final/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Full results</a></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
&nbsp;

22-year-old from Brazil ends Warholm's reign as world champion

Dos Santos wins first major title with 400m hurdles gold in Oregon

Karsten Warholm, Norway&rsquo;s Olympic and world 400m hurdles champion, says he is back to full health and ready to compete after sustaining a hamstring injury early in the season.&nbsp;
Warholm had a rough start to his 2022 campaign in June, when he clipped the first hurdle at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rabat and pulled up, clutching his right leg. What he initially thought to be a cramp in his hamstring turned out to be a small tear. 
He has not competed since. But now, Warholm approaches a competitive contest to defend his title at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
&ldquo;It's going to be challenging in the sense that I don't know what I can bring to the table,&rdquo; Warholm said. &ldquo;But I know for sure that all the training until the injury happened was very good.&rdquo;
Brazil&rsquo;s Olympic bronze medallist Alison dos Santos has the world leading time so far this season of 46.80, set when winning at the Diamond League in Stockholm. USA&rsquo;s Rai Benjamin got silver behind Warholm at both the 2019 World Championships and last year&rsquo;s Olympic Games in Tokyo, and has a season&rsquo;s best of 47.04.
It was at the Tokyo Olympics that Warholm improved his own world record to a staggering 45.94 in one of the finest races in athletics history. Benjamin clocked 46.17, a performance that would have broken the previous world record, while Dos Santos ran 46.72 for a mark inside the world record that had belonged to Kevin Young from 1992 until Warholm broke it in July 2021. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62d04696b7661551f104a070.jpg" alt="Karsten Warholm breaks the world 400m hurdles record to win Olympic gold ahead of Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos" />
Karsten Warholm breaks the world 400m hurdles record to win Olympic gold ahead of Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
To maintain his claim as world champion, Warholm has spent the last five weeks working to recoup his fitness. He said that preparing for this event with a focus on being healthy is not ideal, and is &ldquo;probably the hardest task&rdquo; of his career.
With the help of his coach, Leif Olav Alnes, Warholm has been training at the University of California in Berkeley. He said his recent performances in training compare to benchmarks he set in previous seasons.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m the world defender and if I&rsquo;m going there, it&rsquo;s because I feel like I have something to come with,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Now I can say that I feel good to go. And when I feel good to go, I&rsquo;m going to go 100%.&rdquo;
The 26-year-old is also relishing the chance to return to global competition at Hayward Field, where he contested the decathlon at the World Athletics U20 Championships in 2014.
&ldquo;There was a great atmosphere and a packed stadium, it&rsquo;s an audience that knows their track and field very well,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That was one of my last decathlons and it was pretty special to be here.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Warholm added that in the 400m hurdles, &ldquo;there&rsquo;s no compensating&rdquo;. He knows that going up against Benjamin, who will be competing on home soil, and Dos Santos will not be easy.
&ldquo;They won&rsquo;t be giving me any slack, that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; Warholm added. &ldquo;The level is very good right now, probably one of the best eras of the event.&rdquo;
But to Warholm, the competition is a welcome challenge.
&ldquo;This is what I love to do, I&rsquo;m a very competitive person. If I&rsquo;m on the line, I want there to be competition. I want to have a good fight,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That is what brings excitement to the sport.&rdquo;
Madeline Ryan for World Athletics

The world record-holder says he feels "good to go" in Oregon after a hamstring injury 