2024 Olympics: US Rai Benjamin finally beats rival Karsten Warholm for hurdles gold

American sensation in the 400m hurdles, Rai Benjamin, was not deterred this time.

Three years after running a ridiculous 46.17 seconds, only to lose gold to Karsten Warholm’s world record of 45.94 seconds at the Tokyo Olympics, Benjamin took revenge on his great Norwegian rival to become Olympic champion in Paris. The wet conditions did not lend themselves to the possibility of a new world record, but Benjamin’s 46.46 seconds was still equal to the fifth fastest in history, and he won in a landslide.

Warholm had to settle for silver in 47.06 seconds, while Brazil’s Alison dos Santos repeated his bronze medal in Tokyo with a time of 47.26.

The Warholm-Benjamin rivalry has consistently favored Warholm in major championships. He defeated Benjamin at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Even when Warholm failed to medal at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Benjamin still lost gold to Alison dos Santos. After three silvers and a bronze, and several years of Buffalo Bills-esque pain in the 1990s for the Mount Vernon, New York, native, Benjamin has finally earned his first individual gold medal.

There have been signs that Warholm’s dominance is waning of late. After winning the world title last year, he lost consecutive Diamond League races to Kyron McMaster (who finished fifth in Friday’s final) of the British Virgin Islands and Rai Benjamin to close out the year. In 2024, Warholm was defeated by dos Santos in his native Norway, while Benjamin defeated both men in Monaco just before the Olympics began.

This win for Benjamin could signal a changing of the guard, seven years after Warholm’s first world title. Benjamin entered Friday’s final with an unbeaten record for 2024, as well as a season-best time, leaving the other two fastest men of all time far behind.

Benjamin will get a chance to add to his gold medal haul on Saturday, the final day of track and field competition at the Paris Olympics, when he competes in the 4×400-meter relay. He was the anchor for the gold medal haul at the Tokyo Olympics, as well as the 2019 and 2023 world titles, and he will be heavily favored to take home the gold in what is on track to become the largest haul of track and field medals in Team USA history.