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The 400m men’s hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 have never felt this exciting and competitive as it stands today. On Thursday, Norway’s Karsten Warholm broke the world record in 400m hurdles when he completed the race in 46.70 seconds in the Diamond League in front of his home crowd in Oslo.
With his performance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics 2020, Warholm broke Kevin Young’s 29-year-old record of 46.78 seconds.
Eyeing a gold medal performance at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, Warholm was quoted as saying by Reuters after his world-record performance:
“I knew that I had a fast time in my body. It might take another world record to win the Olympics.”
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"This was just a perfect moment. Everybody's talking about this world record that had been standing for many, many years – it's older than me, actually. First time, Bislett (Games), back with audience, family and friends in the stadium, I knew I had it in me but of course it's very special to be able to do it, and I'm just really happy and really proud. It's an amazing moment.”
Tokyo Olympics 2020: Who can claim the men's 400m hurdles throne?
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Kevin Young, registered his world record four years before Warholm was even born. Young won his gold medal in 400m hurdles at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
While Warholm may have broken his world record, Young will be pinning his hopes on Rai Benjamin at the Tokyo Olympics 2020, who grabbed attention recently at Hayward Field at the University of Oregon.
Speaking to TeamUSA.org in September 2020, Young had said:
“I’m over my world record being broken. I want to see who’s the first person to go under 46 seconds. I’m seeing Rai going 45.9 - that’s what I’m looking at.”
“Watching Samba, Rai and Karsten, I am literally at the edge of my seat,” Young said. “Just watching the potential which they have, I’m shaking my head, going, ‘Wow, what a great time it is to be an intermediate hurdler.’"
Things are looking positive for Rai Benjamin ahead of the Tokyo Olympics 2020. Benjamin won the 400m hurdles final with a time of 46.83 seconds, a full second ahead of other competitors.
Benjamin missed beating Young’s record by only .05 seconds. Like Warholm, Benjamin was born five years after Young won his Olympics medal at Barcelona.
Rai Benjamin believes Kevin Young's men's 400m hurdles world record can be broken this year
Following his performance at Hayward Field, Benjamin was quoted as saying by USA Today:
“I looked at it and I was like, 'Dang, man. Point zero five.' It hurts a little bit to know that it was right there and I couldn't grab it. But it's just more fuel for the fire, man. It'll come when it comes.”
Tokyo Olympics 2020: Benjamin wants to be known as the greatest 400m hurdler ever
Team US has star athletes in the hurdles category and have high medal hopes from these athletes at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 — Grant Holloway in 100m hurdles and in women’s, Keni Harrison, Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad.
However, what makes the 400m hurdles the toughest athletics event is the number of athletes currently chasing the speedometer and records and lighting up the event.
Speaking at the pre-event press conference ahead of the 2021 Doha Diamond League in May, Benjamin had said:
"If it is going to happen, it will happen this year. Our field is phenomenal. It's not just me (Rai Benjamin), (Abderrahman) Samba, or (Karsten) Warholm. There's also (Kyron) McMaster, (Alison) Dos Santos who ran phenomenally at Mt. SAC. We now have a field of four or five guys who can do under 48 seconds.”
"I would like to be known as the greatest 400m hurdler ever. It's a big ask. I think to do that, it's going to take a lot. I am so young. I may not have all the accolades. It will take time. Not only in my event but I want to be the most versatile track and field athlete whether it's the 400m hurdles, 400m or the 200m.”
Karsten Warholm, now the fastest man in 400m hurdles, will compete against Rai Benjamin at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 — the third-fastest— and Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba, the fourth-fastest in the world. The list has never looked this compelling and attractive.
After the Tokyo Olympics 2020 being postponed by a year due to COVID-19, this kind of competitiveness will be the exact kind of advertisement the organizers will hope for.
While Warholm won the gold medal at the 2019 World Championships, Benjamin won the silver medal and Qatar’s Samba won the bronze. Two years later, things look eerily similar but Benjamin will not have forgotten the loss at the world championships when he takes on Warholm at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
The Tokyo Olympics 2020 400m hurdles first round of prelims will take place on 30 July 2021 and the final will be on 3 August.
