Norway’s Karsten Warholm successfully defended his 400m Hurdles World Championships title, emerging tops in a contest of the big 3 to win with a time of 47.42s at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.
Billed as the race to anticipate, it lived up to expectation in excitement although it might not have been the World Record (WR) many people looked forward to.
Warholm ran with intent, and didn’t wait for his other competitors to take the initiative, rather he went out very hard and held on strongly when Rai Benjamin chased him down after the last barrier.
Benjamin came in 2nd with a time of 47.66s, with Abderrahman Samba streaking past Kyron McMaster from lane 8 to sneak in on the podium, taking 3rd place with a time of 48.03s.
Warholm this season ran the second fastest time in history, running an European and Norwegian Record of 46.92s in Zurich, joining Samba and Benjamin as one of the four men ever to go down 47s.
They might not have produced a sub 47s in Doha, but there is a feeling that it could only be a matter of time before Kevin Young’s World Record of 46.78s will be gone. Who knows, maybe at next year’s Olympics
