Alison dos Santos broke the world record in the 400m hurdles
The Brazilian stopped the clock at 45.80 seconds at the Diamond League meet in Zurich, breaking Karsten Warholm's legendary record from Tokyo and becoming the first person to go under 45.90 seconds. The Norwegian himself finished second.
A new world record in athletics: Brazilian Alison dos Santos set a time of 45.80 seconds this evening (Thursday) in the 400m hurdles at the Diamond League meet in Zurich, Switzerland, breaking one of the most impressive records in the sport in recent years. Dos Santos improved by 14 hundredths of a second the previous record of 45.94 seconds, set by Norwegian Karsten Warholm in the Tokyo Olympic final.
Warholm, who delivered one of the greatest athletics performances in history at those Games, also participated in the race in Zurich and this time settled for second place with 46.69 seconds. For dos Santos, this is a dramatic improvement on his previous personal best, which stood at 46.29 seconds and was set when he won the 2022 World Championships. Before the race in Zurich, he was ranked third all-time, behind Warholm and American Rai Benjamin, the Paris 2024 Olympic champion, whose personal best is 46.17 seconds.
Dos Santos, Warholm, and Benjamin have completely dominated the 400m hurdles in recent years, holding 34 of the fastest times in history between them. Before the era of the three, the record belonged to American Kevin Young, who set 46.78 seconds at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and held the record for nearly three decades. Dos Santos, 26, won the bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympic final behind Warholm and Benjamin, and in Paris finished third again, this time behind Benjamin and Warholm. Now, for the first time in his career, he holds the world record.
There was also great drama in the women's 100m in Zurich. Olympic champion Julien Alfred set a personal best of 10.70 seconds and beat American world champion Melissa Jefferson-Woodn by thousandths of a second. The two set the same time, but Alfred edged her by five thousandths. Jefferson-Woodn, who had won 11 consecutive 100m finals since the Paris Games, suffered her first defeat since the Olympics. Alfred won the gold medal then, ahead of Sha'Carri Richardson and Jefferson-Woodn, and this time Richardson finished third in Zurich with 10.97 seconds. The three sprinters are expected to meet again at the new World Athletics championship, which will be held in Budapest from September 11 to 13.
