U.S. Nabs Olympic Silver In The Fastest Men's 400 Meter Hurdles Race Ever

https://www.npr.org/sections/tokyo-olympics-live-updates/2021/08/03/ [login to see] /olympic-tokyo-karsten-warholm-rai-benjamin-mens-400-meter-hurdles
We'll be talking about this race for years to come.

Two of the three fastest competitors ever in the event were on the starting line of the men's 400 meter hurdles final at the Tokyo Olympics — and both beat the previous world record time by a wide margin.

Norway's Karsten Warholm took gold, breaking his own world record with a time of 45.94. He smashed it by about three-quarters of a second.

"I just ran with my life. I would die for that gold medal today," Warholm said.

Behind him was Rai Benjamin of the U.S. with a blazing fast 46.17.

"It's a lot to process. I cried a little bit," Benjamin, 25, said after the race. "But I am really happy to be a part of history like this and just to show, like, where this event can go."

"If you would have told me that I was going to run a 46.1 [second race] and lose, I would probably beat you up and tell you to get out of my room," he said with a smile.