Karsten Warholm’s Olympic procession? It could be but there’s plenty more capable of nabbing the gold. Here’s our men’s 400m Hurdles preview for the Tokyo Olympics.
Schedule
Friday 30 July 02:55 UK Time (Heats) Sunday 1 August 13:05 UK Time (Semifinals) Tuesday 3 August 04:20 UK Time (Final)
2021 Fastest Times
| 2021 Rankings | Time | Athlete | Country |
| 1 | 46.7 | Karsten Warholm | Norway |
| 2 | 46.83 | Rai Benjamin | USA |
| 3 | 47.34 | Alison Dos Santos | Brazil |
| 4 | 47.5 | Kyron McMaster | British Virgin Islands |
| 5 | 47.85 | Sean Burrell | USA |
| 6 | 48.08 | Kenneth Selmon | USA |
| 7 | 48.18 | Jaheel Hyde | Jamaica |
| 8 | 48.19 | Yasmani Copello | Turkey |
| 9 | 48.26 | Abderrahman Samba | Qatar |
| 10 | 48.38 | David Kendziera | USA |
British interest
No entrants from GB & NI
The favourites
Karsten Warholm may be the world record holder, world champion and hot favourite for Olympic gold but Rai Benjamin will push him all the way and is the third fastest of all time. Benjamin hasn’t lost over hurdles this year and this is one of the match ups of the whole meet. It will be fascinating should both get to the final intact.
Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos has installed himself as a clear contender and has broken the South American record this season. Aged only 21 there’s likely to be room for improvement.
Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba has run under 47 seconds before and whilst not in that form this year he is returning from injury. If he can get it together for Tokyo he could run himself into a medal. Kyron McMaster will hope to improve on his Doha 4th place and win the British Virgin Islands first ever Olympic medal and Yasmani Copello will hope to add to his Rio 2016 bronze.
Our medal predictions
- Karsten Warholm
- Rai Benjamin
- Alison Dos Santos
Records
WR: 46.70 Karsten Warholm (2021)
OR: 46.78 Kevin Young (1992 Barcelona)
Featured image “DOH10094 warholm reeksen 400H” by babbo1957 is licensed under CC BY 2.0
