Karsten Warholm of Norway put together a ridiculous performance to win a gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, and he smashed his own world record in the process.
Warholm ran the 400m hurdles in 45.94 seconds, easily topping the world-record 46.70 time he ran just weeks ago (which broke a 29-year-old record).
The USA’s Rai Benjamin also had an incredible showing to win silver, producing a 46.17 time that would’ve been the new world record if not for Warholm’s mind-blowing effort. And Brazil’s Alison dos Santos came just shy of Warholm’s previous record with a 46.72 time to win bronze.
WORLD RECORD‼️
Norway's Karsten Warholm breaks his OWN world record to win gold in the men's 400m hurdles and @TeamUSA's Rai Benjamin wins the silver. #TokyoOlympics
📺 NBC
💻 https://t.co/ZOFdXC4e4u
📱 NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/lPSNrv2Qoo— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) August 3, 2021
BIG WORLD RECORD ENERGY #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/GDYxzGu0Ly
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) August 3, 2021
World Record obliterated in the men’s 400M-H by nearly a full second at the #Olympics
If you follow/know track, you know that it is basically not possible, but it was just achieved.
Incredible.
Karsten Warholm
45.94
— Louis Riddick (@LRiddickESPN) August 3, 2021
Ppl, I don’t think you realize what you just watched. A man just ran Sub 46 in the 400M Hurdles. That’s Beamon’s jump in Mexico City, Bolt’s sub 9.6 in 100 meters. I saw Kevin Young run 46.78 in Barcelona, still can’t believe Warholm ran that fast. Geeeeezzz
— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) August 3, 2021
48 people ran in the regular 400m prelims yesterday. The highest semifinal qualifying time was 45.64.
Karsten Warholm ran 400m in 45.94 — while jumping over hurdles — which was better than 23 Olympic sprinters did without the hurdles.
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) August 3, 2021
It was an extraordinary run from all three medal winners, but the Warholm run will go down as a legendary performance.