Brazilian Alison dos Santos, also known as Piu, broke the world record in the 400-meter hurdles by clocking 45.80 seconds at the Diamond League in Zurich, Switzerland, an elite track and field competition. On Thursday afternoon (Aug. 27), Piu finished the race 14 hundredths of a second faster than the previous record holder, Norway’s Karsten Warholm, who clocked 45.94 seconds in the final of the 2021 Tokyo Games.
With today’s performance, Santos joins the Norwegian as the only two athletes in history to finish the race in the 45-second range. A world champion and Olympic medalist, the Brazilian was dubbed the “New King of the 400m Hurdles” in a social media post by World Athletics.
Piu dominated the race from the start and crossed the finish line nearly a second ahead of Warholm (46.69), who finished second. Nigeria’s Ezequiel Nathaniel finished third in 47.50 seconds. Brazil’s Matheus Lima finished fourth in 47.57 seconds.
This is the fourth time Santos has claimed the top spot on the podium in the 400-meter hurdles at a Diamond League meet. With 14 meets in total throughout the year, he is a strong contender to compete in the competition’s finals on September 4 and 5. The Brazilian won the meets in Xiamen, China (46.72 seconds); Oslo, Norway (46.89 seconds); and Silesia, Poland (46.43 seconds).
Source: npr.org