The 400m hurdles has benchmarks, the first man in 13 strides (Edwin Moses), the Dominican Felix Sanchez who breaks the domination of the Americans at the Olympics (in 2004, before succeeding in being a gold medalist once again in 2012).
Tokyo will keep the memory of a frenzied race led at a breakneck pace, boldly concluded by the Norwegian Karsten Warholm who by beating his world record broke the bar of 46 ''.
45''94.
A time to put away in the category of legendary times: Michael Johnson (19''32 in the 200m during the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996) or Usain Bolt (9''58 in Berlin in 2009).
Breathtaking.
To discover
The full Olympic program
The Olympic medal table
To the angels, he summed up:
“I can't believe the time, it's so fast.
Often I am asked which is the perfect race.
I said it didn't exist, but that's the closest thing to it. "
And to relate:
“I said to myself when I entered the race, remember all the work you have done.
It was the only one missing from my medal collection.
I can't describe how important this is to me.
This is what I work for from morning to night.
It is enormous…"
Read also: The medal table
The Norwegian had, in the home stretch leading to Tokyo, beaten the world record in the 400m hurdles of Kevin Young (46''78 at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992) who was 29 years old in 46''70 on July 1 in Oslo. He did even stronger in Tokyo as part of the Olympic final. He knew he was expected. He responded with the punctuality of the greatest. Driven to perfection and performance by the American Rai Benjamin who finished in 46''17 (the Brazilian Alison Dos Santos taking 3rd place in 46''72). A mano a mano concluded brilliantly after an irresistible acceleration of the Norwegian covered in gold and rewarded with a new record. Athletics, between surprises and records, launched the post Usain Bolt perfectly…