The three fastest 400m hurdlers in history will cross paths for the first time this season at the Monaco Diamond League on Friday (12) evening at the Louis II Stadium, the scene of seven world record performances over the years.<\/p>\n
And while Karsten Warholm, Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos – who own the 15 fastest times in history as a collective – were reluctant to talk specifically about where the clock will stop at the pre-event press conference on Thursday (11), the three protagonists promised another exciting and high-octane instalment of a brilliant three-way rivalry in the 400m hurdles.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve raced each other a lot of times, I think we have brought it to a new level. It\u2019s been a crazy journey but having people who keep you on your toes is a blessing in disguise.<\/p>\n
Maybe I\u2019m a bit biased but we have brought the event to the highest level of any event in track and field. When we look back on this era, I think we are going to be grateful we had this level of competition,<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we are all here, ready to race in Monaco. I think we all feel confident, otherwise we wouldn\u2019t be here. Speaking of times is never a good idea. The thrill of the race is going to be good no matter what but the three of us tend to run quite fast. It\u2019s going to be a race, I guarantee,\u201d said Warholm, who won last year in a meeting record of 46.51, the sixth fastest time in history.<\/p>\n
Already a three-time winner in Monaco, Warholm will be looking to return to winning ways in the Diamond League after a stinging defeat on home soil to dos Santos in Oslo on 30 May when the Brazilian ran down the world record-holder who uncharacteristically faltered in the home straight for victory in 46.63 to Warholm\u2019s 46.70.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really exciting to be part of the event – what we are doing is not normal. We don\u2019t know when we will see this happen again [three athletes running under 47 seconds] and it\u2019s more than just the three of us. I guess tomorrow is going to be a day to enjoy,\u201d said the ebullient dos Santos who believes he is in the best shape of his career so far with the Olympic Games only three weeks away.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m way better than I was in 2021,\u201d said dos Santos when casting his mind back to the Olympic Games final where the Brazilian won bronze behind Warholm and Benjamin. \u201cI ran faster in 2022 but I\u2019m feeling better than in 2022 already.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the mantle of world leader this year belongs to Benjamin who won the US Olympic Trials last month in 46.46, the fifth fastest time in history, and will be racing in Monaco as a springboard to the Paris Olympic Games and the prospect of winning an elusive global 400m hurdles title.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels like it was yesterday but it was so long ago,\u201d said Benjamin when reflecting on the Tokyo Olympic Games where he finished second to Warholm but broke the previous world record in the process of 46.17 which remains the second fastest time in history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel as though I\u2019m in better shape now,\u201d Benjamin added ominously.<\/p>\n
Can Arop join the sub-1:42 party in the 800m<\/strong><\/p>\n By contrast, fast times were a hot topic of conversation between world 800m champion Marco Arop and the recently crowned European champion Gabriel Tual who became the fifth fastest performer in history in Paris on Sunday with a French record of 1:41.61, representing a lifetime best by more than two seconds.<\/p>\n Articulating this sudden improvement, Tual said: \u201cI was just running at my pace without ever being disturbed. I was running to win the race; I was pushing and I wasn\u2019t thinking about my legs. I was just wanting to win the race and I think it helped me to run that 1:41.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t think I could run that fast and going into the top five of all-time is completely crazy. I\u2019m here to run 1:41 again and to prove to myself I can run that fast again.\u201d<\/p>\n By contrast, Arop was a mere spectator for that race in Paris but the Canadian is hoping to join the exclusive sub-1:42 party very soon.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m hoping I can break 1:42 at some point. Based on my training, I\u2019m definitely in shape to run that,\u201d said Arop, who believes the current generation is capable of targeting David Rudisha\u2019s long-standing world record of 1:40.91 from the London 2012 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing that race [in Paris], it goes to show when you put your mind to it, you don\u2019t really know what you\u2019re capable of and that world record is definitely on the horizon now. I don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to break it but there are plenty of guys who are in range and that\u2019s very exciting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The three fastest 400m hurdlers in history will cross paths for the first time this season at...","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-1463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monaco"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/monaco.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/monaco.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/monaco.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monaco.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/monaco.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monaco.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/monaco.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monaco.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monaco.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1463"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/monaco.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=1463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}