400 metres Hurdles, Women

On 3 August Norway’s Karsten Warholm had stunned the track world by winning the gold medal in 45.94 over American Rai Benjamin, shattering the world record. The next day the women ran the 400 hurdles final, and nobody expected anything to match the men’s race. They would be wrong.

The two favorites were the Americans Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad. Muhammad was the defending gold medallist, and had won the 2019 World Championship, in which she set the world record of 52.16, as McLaughlin finished second. McLaughlin was younger, and had competed at Rio, where she was barely 17-years-old, failing to make the final. At the US Olympic Trials in July, McLaughlin finally defeated Muhammad, running a world record of 51.90. A third runner, Dutchwoman Femke Bol, had also had an outstanding summer, but she was only expected to challenge for the bronze medal.

Everybody made the final as expected, with Muhammad, McLaughlin, and Bol winning the three semi-finals. Muhammad got off to the fastest start and led to the eighth hurdle, with McLaughlin and Bol about a step behind and almost together. As they approached the last barrier, McLaughlin had almost caught Muhammad, who had a slight stutter step before clearing.

On the run-in McLaughlin was the strongest, crossing the line in 51.46 to break the world record by almost ½-a-second. Muhammad was also well under the world mark, finishing in 51.58 for silver as Bol crossed in 52.03, a European record and a mark that would have been a world record until two months before the Games. The entire field was fast, as the first six finishers bettered 54 seconds, the first time that had ever happened in a women’s 400 hurdle race. Jamaica’s Janieve Russell finished fourth in 53.08, the fastest ever fourth-place.