The 400 Metre Hurdles Has a Moment in the Sun, as Athletics Gears Up for the Tokyo Olympics

Anything you can do, I can do better has been the ethos at the start of the outdoor athletics season. With the Tokyo Olympics fast approaching, the stars who were left spinning their wheels last summer have rolled out of the starting blocks to set a host of historic times on the track.

When Sifan Hassan shattered the 10,000 metre world record last month in Hengelo, the new benchmark stood for just 48 hours. Hassan had knocked more than ten seconds off the previous best set by Almaz Ayana, but on the same track a couple of days later – boasting the same Wavelight pacemaking technology, clad in the same Nike ZoomX Dragonfly spikes – Letesenbet Gidey went five seconds faster, racing home in a new record time of 29:01.03 to lead the Ethiopian trials.

Her efforts over the longer distance opened up the 5000 metres, with Gudaf Tsegay scoring the fifth-fastest time in history ahead of Ejgayehu Taye and Senbere Teferi, who placed sixth and seventh on the all-time list. For the first time three women in the same race had gone under 14 minutes and 20 seconds. But while the likes of Joshua Cheptegei, Beatrice Chepkoech, Gidey, Tsegay, and Hassan vie for record times in the long distance disciplines, star athletes are also breaking boundaries in the sprints.

As the highly competitive American trials reached a climax, at the end of another day of lung-sapping Oregonian heat, the 21-year-old Sydney McLaughlin set a new world record in the 400 metre hurdles. Already one of the faces of athletics, McLaughlin kicked past the reigning world record holder Dalilah Muhammad in the straight to become the first woman to complete the race in under 52 seconds, finishing in a time of 51.90.

The weekend saw record temperatures and race postponements in the athletics bastion of Eugene, with the heat reaching a staggering high of 43 degrees Celsius. A day earlier on the track, Grant Holloway and Rai Benjamin had come within whiskers of world records in the 110 metre hurdles and 400 metre hurdles, with Gabby Thomas in the 200 metres also winding up second on the all-time list. Winning her trial in a time of 21.61, Thomas surpassed the likes of Marion Jones, Dafne Schippers, and Merlene Ottey in the history books, though she remains some way short of the apparently insurmountable record set by Florence Griffith-Joyner back in 1988.

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The 400 metre hurdles is having a moment in the sun. Not to be outdone, in Oslo at the Bislett Games on Thursday night, the home favourite Karsten Warholm finally grabbed that elusive world record with a time of 46.70 over the distance, bettering the mark of 46.78 set by Kevin Young all the way back in 1992. Warholm and Rai Benjamin have been locked in battle over the record ever since both men broke 47 seconds in 2019. Speaking prior to the race in Oslo, Warholm had said:

‘Your competitors are what really push you towards bigger things. If it was only me running quick times, I wouldn’t need to push it any further, but with people there running fast times, I need to take a step up as well.’

At the Diamond League meet in Oslo, the Svein Arne Hansen Dream Mile stood as a fitting prelude to Warholm’s hurdle heroics. In the penultimate event on the track, Stewart McSweyn of Australia established a new area record, pressing ahead of Marcin Lewandowski who still managed a Polish record in second place.

Over 3000 metres, Yomif Kejelcha stretched the field almost to breaking point. Kejelcha – who trains alongside Sifan Hassan in the United States – led from the front to register a world-leading time of 7:26.25, enough to place the Ethiopian athlete seventh on the all-time list. In the end his hard work paid off for the rest of the field, as the first eight competitors all came away with new personal bests.

It was a similar story over 5000 metres, as the reigning world champion Hellen Obiri held off a stern challenge from Fantu Worku to head a slew of fast times and personal bests. Eilish McColgan managed to stick with the leading pack of Obiri, Worku, and Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi, with her reward a new British record as the Scot bettered a mark set by Paula Radcliffe.

Many of the athletes who competed in Oslo made the short trip over to Stockholm, where the Diamond League season continued on Sunday afternoon. In the field Armand Duplantis set back-to-back meeting records, with vaults of 6.01 in Oslo then 6.02 in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Sam Kendricks and Renaud Lavillenie finished in second and third on both occasions, their vaults of 5.92 in Stockholm serving as new season’s bests.

Daniel Ståhl, the other giant of Swedish athletics, dominated in the discus with one quirk. Despite throwing almost two metres further than Kristjan Čeh over the first five rounds in Oslo, in the winner-takes-all sixth round both men could only muster a fairly mediocre 65.72. After some confusion, Ståhl was awarded the victory based on his earlier throws.

Malaika Mihambo fell victim to the new sixth round format in Stockholm, after Oslo saw the rangy German long jumper ease to success. Instead in Stockholm it was Ivana Španović who came out ahead, as Mihambo’s jump of 7.02 in the third round counted for naught come the climax, which the tough Serbian competitor won with a season’s best of 6.88.

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Grizzled veterans and aspiring youngsters alike were also rounding into form on the track. The 21-year-old Dutch star Femke Bol was first up in Oslo, and set a new national record in the 400 metre hurdles with a time of 53.33. Bol however is improving with every meet, and her Olympic prospects looked rosier still following her race in Stockholm on Sunday, where she held off the challenge from Shamier Little to smash her own national record in a time of 52.37. The run wedges Bol neatly between Sydney McLaughlin and Dalilah Muhammad, in second place on the world list.

The ever-present Ivorian sprinter Marie-Josée Ta Lou, now 32 years old, showed that she too will remain in medal contention come the Tokyo Olympics. In Oslo she came through over 100 metres with a winning time of 10.91, and in the 200 metres in Stockholm she recorded another season’s best even as she narrowly lost out to Shericka Jackson.

If Gabby Thomas appears to have the edge in the 200 metres following her historic time in Oregon, she will face stern competition from the Jamaican trio of Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Shericka Jackson, and Elaine Thompson-Herah, who looked impressive as they competed in their closely contested national trials.

The result was the same over 100 metres and 200 metres in Kingston, with Fraser-Pryce holding off Jackson while Thompson-Herah finished third. Jackson ran a personal best of 10.77 in the semi-finals of the 100 metres, and backed that up with a personal best of 21.82 in the final of the 200 metres, but her stellar form still wasn’t enough. Fraser-Pryce secured an expected victory over 100 metres, sprinting home in a time of 10.71. But it was in the 200 metres that the diminutive Jamaican truly excelled, knocking a whopping 0.30 off her previous best to win the race in a time of 21.79. Fraser-Pryce said:

‘I never ever doubted myself because everything has to do with time and being patient. I’m just elated that I was finally able to break the 22 seconds.’

Over 200 metres, Fraser-Pryce and Jackson will vie for Olympic gold with Gabby Thomas, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, and Dina Asher-Smith. Thompson-Herah, a double sprint champion at the Rio Olympics in 2016, may find better prospects over 100 metres, where Jackson, Asher-Smith, and Ta Lou are strong medal shouts even as Fraser-Pryce heads to Tokyo as the firm favourite.

That status was thrown into sharp relief over the weekend, as the major breaking story in track and field revolved around a positive marijuana test by Sha’Carri Richardson. In her breakthrough season on the track, Richardson registered the sixth-fastest run of all-time over 100 metres, clocking 10.72 in Florida back in April. She backed that up with victory over 100 metres at the American trials, and seemed set to head to Tokyo as the second-fastest woman in the world this year, behind only Fraser-Pryce who registered 10.63 last month in Kingston.

Instead on Friday the United States Anti-Doping Agency announced that Richardson had recorded a positive marijuana test during the course of the trials. According to World Anti-Doping Agency rules, the use of marijuana is prohibited during competition periods, with violations carrying a minimum one-month ban if athletes complete a program for substance abuse and prove that their use of the drug was recreational. The likely one-month ban for Richardson would render her ineligible for the solo sprints at the Tokyo Olympics.

Richardson hinted at the impending announcement with a cryptic tweet on Thursday night which read ‘I am human’. On The Today Show on NBC on Friday morning, she apologised to her supporters while providing some of the context around her actions. Richardson explained that she had been informed of the death of her biological mother during the trials, describing a state of ’emotional panic’ and adding:

‘I was definitely triggered and blinded by emotions, blinded by badness, and hurting, and hiding hurt. I know I can’t hide myself, so in some type of way, I was trying to hide my pain.’

Athletics bans for marijuana consumption increasingly seem like an anachronism, and Richardson was no doubt stricken with grief. The bottom line for track and field however is that the Tokyo Olympics has lost one of its star names, while Richardson has denied herself of the opportunity to prove her talents outside the provincial backwaters of the United States.

Also at the American trials, Trayvon Bromell and Noah Lyles looked strong in the sprints, while Allyson Felix qualified for her fifth Olympic Games at the tender age of 35 following a second-placed finish over 400 metres. The sparkle wasn’t just confined to the track, with the standout performance of the trials coming courtesy of Ryan Crouser, who broke a 31-year world record in the shot with a throw of 23.37. DeAnna Price moved to second on the all-time list in the hammer, and Katie Nageotte moved up to joint third in the pole vault with a world lead and personal best of 4.95.

While the women were excelling in the sprints, there was misfortune for Omar McLeod in Kingston. The reigning Olympic champion in the 110 metre hurdles suffered from cramp and clattered the barriers at the Jamaican trials, finishing last to miss out on the trip to Tokyo. Jamaican hopes in the event will rest instead on the shoulders of Ronald Levy.

In Oslo, the American Kate Grace ran a personal best over 800 metres, small solace perhaps after finishing seventh at the American trials, where Raevyn Rogers and Ajeé Wilson trailed the blistering 19-year-old Athing Mu. In Stockholm there was a return to winning ways for Timothy Cheruiyot over 1500 metres, while Rose Mary Almanza edged the 800 metres in a new meeting record and personal best.

Alison dos Santos kept his name in contention in the 400 metre hurdles, as the Brazilian athlete achieved a new area record with a time of 47.34. Yaroslava Mahuchikh managed a world leading height in the high jump, the Ukrainian soaring clear of 2.03 on her third attempt. Ronnie Baker, Kirani James, and Hyvin Kiyeng won their respective races out on track, while Tajay Gayle went deep into the sandpit with a leap of 8.55 in a wind-assisted long jump.

The qualification period for the Tokyo Olympics drew to a close this week, with competition scheduled to start on 31 July in the Japanese capital. In the meantime the top athletes will head to Hungary on Tuesday night for the star-studded Gyulai István Memorial, with Diamond League meets in Monaco and Gateshead serving as preludes to the Olympics.