Olympics Men’s 400 metres hurdle final - Karsten Warholm, New National Stadium, Tokyo, August 3rd
The greatest run of all time?
Quite possibly, as even Karsten Warholm’s post-race reaction - eyes bulging and both hands on his head as he sought to take in the time on the giant clock in the Olympic Stadium - to his world record men’s 400 metres hurdle final confirmed a sense of disbelief.
To put some context on what the Norwegian achieved, it was in July that he had broken a record considered almost unbreakable: it was that of Kevin Young’s 1992 world record, which Warholm - with a time of 46.70 seconds - managed to accomplish.
Still, that remarkable performance was to be put into the ha’penny place on the biggest stage of all, in the Olympics final.
Before the starting pistol was fired at all, Warholm was psyched up. He repeatedly slapped his own face as if performing a wake-up call for the task ahead, before slipping his feet into the blocks in lane six. Once the pistol sounded, he was up and away, his left leg leading on each of the 10 barriers that brought him to the finish line.
But it was far from a one man show. For much of the race, American Rai Benjamin kept within touching distance and the destination of the gold and silver medals was in doubt coming to the last hurdle.
When Warholm crossed the line, his time was 45.94 seconds, the first man ever to break the 46 seconds barrier in lung-bursting examination.
Benjamin, in second place, posted 46.17 which also beat the old world record. On finishing, he slunk to the track, removing his headband, and looked incredulous at Warholm’s winning time.
“Going in, I told myself in my subconscious, ‘when you get to the last hurdle, put in everything that you have done to reach this moment,” recalled Warholm, who added: “Can you believe the final? I knew it would take something special to win . . . this was the perfect race. I didn’t touch a hurdle and I was even able to find another gear after hurdle 10.”
