EUGENE — Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin owned the pre-race attention, but Alison dos Santos won the race.
Dos Santos came hard off the final turn to win the men’s 400 hurdles Tuesday in the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field.
Warholm, Benjamin and dos Santos went 1-2-3 at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics, Warholm and Benjamin both dipping under the world record.
Neither Warholm nor Benjamin was completely healthy here, and dos Santos capitalized. The Brazilian won in 46.29 seconds. Benjamin was second in 46.89.
Trevor Bassitt, Benjamin’s unheralded teammate, flew down the home straight on the outside to nab third place by a whisker. Bassitt finished in 47.39. France’s Wilfried Happio was fourth in 47.41.
It was an entertaining race, and an enthusiastic crowd of 11,865 roared.
Warholm, who has been struggling with a right hamstring tear, looked strong much of the way. But he slowed on the home straight, and struggled to the finish, eventually getting seventh.
This has been dos Santos’ season. The 22-year-old Brazilian is undefeated this year. After his victory, he reveled in the Eugene atmosphere.
“The energy of the crowd was amazing,” dos Santos said. “I felt their love, people hugging me. … That’s pretty awesome to win a world title on this track.”
He planned to celebrate with a post-race pizza.
“Many people have recommended it to me,” dos Santos said. “Today I think I can drink soda.”
Alison dos Santos of Brazil wins the men’s 400-meter hurdles final at the World Athletics Championships on Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Eugene. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)AP
Bassitt meanwhile, wasn’t on anybody’s radar, despite winning a silver medal in the open 400 in last winter’s World Indoor Championships. He isn’t sponsored, and largely coaches himself.
He ran this race out in Lane 8, meaning he couldn’t see his competitors for much of the way.
Asked for his race plan, Bassitt said: “Run terrified.”
He went all out. What did he have to lose?
“For me there wasn’t that much pressure from the outside,” Bassitt said. “I knew if I got a medal, people would be shocked. I knew if I didn’t get a medal, it would be like, ‘OK, he wasn’t really supposed to.’”
Bassitt trusts his straight-ahead speed. Coming onto the home straight there was work to do, but he thought there was a chance.
He closed hard, picking off one runner after another.
But it was still too close for comfort at the finish line. Did he catch Happio, or didn’t he? Bassitt held his breath while watching the video screen to see the order of finish.
“I knew it was close,” Bassitt said. “They popped up Rai’s time, then it felt like a good 10 minutes before they put my time up. Obviously, it was 15 or 20 seconds, but it felt like forever. When I finally saw my name pop up, it was unbelievable.”
Benjamin has had a star-crossed season that included a painful case of tendinitis in the hamstring of his lead leg, and a nasty bout with COVID that curtailed his training.
After the meet he will get an invasive surgical procedure on the hamstring that will end his season.
“On the back stretch it hurt a lot,” Benjamin said. “I mean, it lit up. I found myself out of the race a little bit. Then I heard the crowd erupt, ‘USA, USA,’ and it helped me dig a little deeper and to run home.”
Warholm suffered a small tear in his right hamstring in early June. He hadn’t raced until the prelims at this meet, and hasn’t been able to train at a championship level at all.
His hamstring held up Tuesday. His conditioning did not.
“Somehow, I hope one day I can be proud of coming here given the circumstances,” Warholm said. “It’s a weird feeling not being able to fight for the gold.”
Here are results from the World Athletics Championships.
— Ken Goe for The Oregonian/OregonLive
KenGoe1020@gmail.com | Twitter: @KenGoe
