WCH Tokyo 25 facts and figures: men's 400m hurdles

Last three sets of World Athletics Championships medallists

2023: Karsten Warholm (NOR) – 46.89, Kyron McMaster (BVI) – 47.34, Rai Benjamin (USA) – 47.56
2022: Alison dos Santos (BRA) – 46.29, Rai Benjamin (USA) – 46.89, Trevor Bassitt (USA) – 47.39
2019: Karsten Warholm (NOR) – 47.42, Rai Benjamin (USA) – 47.66, Abderrahman Samba (QAT) – 48.03

Last two sets of Olympic medallists

Fastest winning times in World Athletics Championships history

Alison dos Santos (BRA) – 46.29 (2022)
Karsten Warholm (NOR) – 46.89 (2023)
Kevin Young (USA) – 47.18 (1993)

Slowest winning time in World Athletics Championships history

Karsten Warholm (NOR) – 48.35 (2017)

Best marks on Japanese soil

45.94 1 Karsten Warholm (NOR) - Tokyo 03.08.2021
46.17 2 Rai Benjamin (USA) - Tokyo 03.08.2021
46.72 3 Alison dos Santos (BRA) - Tokyo 03.08.2021

Best marks on Asian soil

45.94 1 Karsten Warholm (NOR) - Tokyo 03.08.2021
46.17 2 Rai Benjamin (USA) - Tokyo 03.08.2021
46.72 3 Alison dos Santos (BRA) - Tokyo 03.08.2021

Biggest winning margins

1.11s – 1983: Ed Moses (USA) – 47.50, Harald Schmid (FRG/GER) – 48.61
0.93s – 2003: Felix Sanchez (DOM) – 47.25, Joey Woody (USA) – 48.18
0.60s – 2022: Alison dos Santos (BRA) – 46.29, Rai Benjamin (USA) – 46.89

​​Smallest winning margins

0.01s – 2013: Jehue Gordon (TTO) – 47.69, Michael Tinsley (USA) – 47.70
0.02s – 1987: Ed Moses (USA) – 47.46, Danny Harris (USA) – 47.48
0.05s – 1995: Derrick Adkins (USA) – 47.98, Samuel Matete (ZAM) – 48.03
0.05s – 2001: Felix Sanchez (DOM) – 47.49, Fabrizio Mori (ITA) – 47.54

Best mark by round

Heat — 48.12 Alison Dos Santos (BRA), 2023
Semifinal — 47.09 Karsten Warholm (NOR), 2023
Final — 46.29 Alison Dos Santos (BRA), 2022

Multiple winners

1983/87 - Ed Moses (USA)
2001/03 - Felix Sanchez (DOM)
2007/09 - Kerron Clement (USA)
2017/19/23 - Karsten Warholm (NOR)

Winners by country

7 - United States
3 - Norway
2 - Dominican Republic
1 - Zambia
1 - France
1 - Italy
1 - Great Britain
1 - Trinidad & Tobago
1 - Kenya 
1 - Brazil

Five historic facts

• With seven gold medals, the United States is the most successful nation in this event in World Championships history although their last gold medal dates back to 2009
• Zambia won their first and only gold medal at the World Championships in this event in Tokyo in 1991 when Samuel Matete won gold in 47.64
• As a triumvirate, Karsten Warholm (NOR), Rai Benjamin (USA) and Alison dos Santos (BRA) hold the 24 fastest times in history and 45 of the 50 fastest times in history 
• Among Warholm’s many notable distinctions, he is the only three-time winner of the men’s 400m hurdles title and he became the event’s youngest gold medallist in London in 2017 at 21y/162d 
• The last four global 400m hurdles finals (two Olympic, two world finals) have been won with sub-47 second winning times, including the 2020 Olympic final in Tokyo where Warholm won gold with 45.94 

Potential storylines

• All three medallists from the historic Olympic 400m hurdles final from Tokyo will compete. Warholm: "The three of us took the three top spots at the Olympics here in Tokyo. It's amazing to see that we are still the same guys fighting with some others there too...it is also nice to see Samba back in back in the game pushing for top spot."
• Can Rai Benjamin become the first US winner of this title since Kerron Clement in 2009?
• Can Karsten Warholm become the first athlete to win four medals in the 400m hurdles in World Championships history?
• Warholm and Benjamin have a 5-5 head-to-head record although Benjamin has won their last four races, including the 2024 Olympic final in Paris  
• Could Dos Santos’ championship record of 46.29, the fourth fastest time in history, be broken in the final? Three men have never broken the 47 second-barrier in the same race at the World Championships
• Five of the six fastest times in championship history have been set at the last two editions of the World Championships
• Six of the eight finalists from the historic Olympic final in Tokyo are due to compete. The only absentees are Yasmani Copello (TUR) and Rasmus Magi (EST) who finished sixth and seventh respectively