It was roller coaster 24 minutes for the three-times Olympic champion and now World champion Hurdler Rai Benjamin of the United States. Rai stormed o victory in the 400 metres hurdles in 46.52 seconds to finally clinch his first world championship gold medal on Friday after two silvers and a bronze.
However, he was disqualified for crashing into the final hurdle and affecting other athletes. Within minutes, he appealed and it was upheld by the meet director restoring him as the world champion.
Summing up the whole moment, Benjamin told World Athletics, “We were sitting down near the elimination chairs, ironically, and (Alison) dos Santos said the referees are reviewing the race, and that it was about me being disqualified. I asked, ‘Did I step on the line or what?’ It might have been because of that last hurdle I knocked down. But it was all fine in the end. ”
The three times Olympic champion has never won gold at the World Championships with two silver and one bronze in previous editions. “It feels great. I am glad I finally got the job done. I got another individual medal under my belt, for which I am extremely proud. I think I did a good job. Unfortunately, I got really greedy in the end and that’s why I hit the last hurdle.”
The 400m hurdles race was being pitted to be one of the toughest with former World champion Alison Dos Stanos of Brazil, World record holder Karsten Warholm, and Benjamin in the fray. But it turned out to be Benjamin’s race who had his title secured from the word go. Benjamin had a clear lead as they came around the final bend with Warholm starting to fade and the American looked to be cruising to victory until his foot made contact with the final hurdle.
A rollercoaster few minutes for Rai Benjamin at the World Athletics Championship 🥇 pic.twitter.com/Uf6XfopbFh
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No complaints about reversal
Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos briefly held another world title to go with his 2022 triumph after finishing second in 46.84, but was satisfied with silver. “If nothing irregular happened, that’s not how I want to win gold,” he said. “I want to conquer the race. So I am not sad with silver, I am happy.”
Nathaniel said he had been told to stand by while the disqualification and appeal were sorted out but had no complaints about how it all washed out, even if he did not end up on the podium. “It’s a fair call,” said the Nigerian. “He put in a lot of work to get that medal and if they are trying to rip off from that, I don’t think that’s fair. He didn’t deliberately knock over the hurdle, that could happen to anyone.”
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Warholm also had no problems with the reversal of the disqualification but was very unhappy with his race.”I had something happen when I got out of the block, like a little strain in my left thigh,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s a hamstring or knee. Trying to hurdle with it wasn’t good. I also crashed the third hurdle. I tried to push but it was just a terrible race. A disaster.”
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
