Warholm sets WR in 400 hurdles win
When brash Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm led the field to the starting line on a steamy afternoon at Olympic Stadium, he and his seven opponents had every reason to expect they’d be part of something special.
This gathering of the world’s best 400-meter hurdlers Tuesday produced a gold medal for Warholm, a world record, a masterpiece and slice of history. It also might have been one of the best races ever run.
“I never thought in my wildest imagination that this would be possible,” Warholm said after smashing his own world record in a time of 45.94 seconds.
The man who finished behind Warholm, Team USA’s Rai Benjamin, ran more than half a second faster than any other hurdler in history: 46.17. Had anyone dared tell him he would run that fast and finish second, Benjamin said, “I would probably beat you up and tell you to get out of my room.”
The third-place finisher, Alison dos Santos of Brazil, finished in 46.72, which would’ve been a world record five weeks earlier.
• Elaine ThompsonHerah blew away a muchdecorated field in the 200 meters Tuesday night. The latest sprint star from Jamaica completed her second straight Olympic sprint sweep in 21.53 seconds, the second-fastest time in history.
In the 100 meters, Thompson-Herah finished in 10.61, which was good for the Olympic record but not Florence Griffith-Joyner’s overall mark of 10.49.