Benjamin relishing hurdles renaissance, predicts faster times

The men’s 400m hurdles is experiencing a renaissance that will lead to even faster times, according to Rai Benjamin, arch-rival and Olympic gold medal threat to recent world record setter Karsten Warholm.

Warholm, the world and European champion, clocked 46.70 seconds in his first hurdles race of the season at the Oslo Diamond League earlier this month to beat the previous best of 46.78sec set by American Kevin Young back in 1992.

The result sets up the 400m hurdles as one of the most enticing events at the July 23-August 8 Olympics in Tokyo given the strength in depth of the field.

Warholm of Norway will come up against Benjamin, the American himself having run a stunning 46.83sec to win the US trials last month.

Only Warholm, Young, Benjamin and Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba have dipped below the mythical 47-second barrier. But there are others knocking on the door, notably Brazil’s Alison dos Santos.

Benjamin joked that it seemed like everyone had seen Warholm’s world record.

“It was a great run,” he told a virtual press conference. “I’m happy for him.”

Benjamin, who claimed silver behind Warholm at the 2019 Doha worlds with Samba getting bronze, insisted that what he said post-race in the Qatari capital had stood the test of time.

“46 seconds is what it’s going to take to win,” he said. “I’m glad that everyone’s elevating.

“Although it’s easy to be dominant in your event and be ahead of everyone by two seconds, it’s not fun for other people to see.”

Benjamin, son of former West Indies bowler Winston, added that it was great that he and his rivals were “elevating” their standards towards 46.7sec.

“Everyone’s close to it and the only other option you have is to go past it. I feel like that is really going to show who is who… it feels great to be a part of history, in a sense.”

Benjamin said he felt “really excited and really confident to get to Tokyo and start racing” after safely negotiating the testing US Olympic trials where “no one really cares who you are and what you’ve done”.

“46.83 and 46.70 is really not that far apart and, yeah, I’m excited to start racing.

“No one’s run this fast collectively as a group in the history of this event. I’m excited to be a part of it and just think it’s just going to get faster.”

Heats for the men’s 400m hurdles take place in next Friday’s opening morning session at the Olympic stadium, with the semi-finals on Sunday and final two days later on August 3.