American sprinter Rai Benjamin beat world record holders Karsten Warholm of Norway and Alison dos Santos of Brazil to win the gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles final at the Paris Olympics on Friday.
Benjamin clocked 46.46 seconds in the race, just a few steps ahead of Warholm (47.06) and dos Santos (47.26), two of the fastest runners in the world. Despite an unlucky landing after the eighth hurdle, Benjamin still comfortably took first place.
Benjamin won silver behind Warholm three years ago at the Tokyo Games, when the Norwegian set the world record. This is the second Olympic gold medal for the 27-year-old Benjamin, who was part of the winning 4×400 relay team at the Tokyo Olympics.
Earlier in the day, Sydney McLaughlin-LeVrone set a world record in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. McLaughlin-LeVrone ran 50.37 seconds, beating her own world record of 50.65 seconds set at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June.
And the U.S. also won gold in the women’s 4 x 100-meter relay on Friday, thanks to a strong performance by Shakari Richardson in rainy conditions.
Current medal count for the Paris Summer Olympics
| China | 34 | 27 | 23 | 84 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 33 | 41 | 39 | 113 |
| Australia | 18 | 16 | 14 | 48 |
| Japan | 16 | 8 | 13 | 37 |
| Great Britain | 14 | 20 | 23 | 57 |
| France | 14 | 20 | 22 | 56 |
| South Korea | 13 | 8 | 8 | 29 |
| Netherlands | 13 | 6 | 11 | 30 |
| Germany | 12 | 9 | 8 | 29 |
| Italy | 11 | 12 | 13 | 36 |
| Canada | 8 | 6 | 11 | 25 |
| New Zealand | 7 | 7 | 2 | 16 |
| Hungary | 5 | 7 | 6 | 18 |
| Uzbekistan | 5 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Spain | 4 | 3 | 8 | 15 |
| Ireland | 4 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Brazil | 3 | 6 | 9 | 18 |
| Ukraine | 3 | 4 | 4 | 11 |
| Sweden | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| Romania | 3 | 4 | 1 | 8 |