July 03, (THEWILL) – In a historic race ahead of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Karsten Warholm has broken a 29-year-world record in the men’s 400-meter hurdles to definitively make himself a favourite contender for the Olympic gold in that event when the Games commence next month.
The 25-year-old Norwegian hurdler clocked a 46.70-second time at a Diamond League meet in Oslo on Thursday to break the nearly three-decade old record previously held by Kevin Young.
Young, an American hurdler had set the record at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona with a blinding speed time of 46.78 and it stood unsullied for so long even with some of the best hurdlers the world has seen between 1992 and today.
In fact, Young’s record was reportedly the oldest mark standing in all of men’s track events demonstrating, without equivocation, how difficult it was to beat and the reason Warholm is considered an Olympic favourite for shaving as much as 0.08 seconds off the 29-year-old record.
Warholm, who is a two-time world champion in the event, did not need a record-breaking run to establish himself as Olympic favourite, but completely deserves the honour of being the current holder of a fresh record going into Tokyo.
However, a stiff competition still awaits the new holder in Japan when the Track and Field events open in Japan’s capital city next month. The American Raj Benjamin recorded what was then the second-fastest time in history in the event at the Olympic trials in the US with a 46.83-second time.
The means that competing for the gold in the 400-meter male hurdles event in Tokyo will be a pair of athletes in Warholm and Benjamin, who together hold 10 of the 15 fastest times in the history of the event. It will make for an interesting competition to follow when the athletes take to the tracks.
THEWILL recalls that Warholm’s record 400m run comes just a few days after American Sydney McLaughlin broke the women’s world record in the same event with a time of 51.90 seconds early Monday morning this week. The 21-year-old broke the record of the reigning Olympic champion and her Olympic rival Dalilah Muhammad, making the female event another one to follow closely.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
