Norway’s Karsten Warholm shattered his own world record to win the men’s 400 metres hurdles at the Olympics.
The new champion only broke the 29-year-old record last month but clocked 45.94 seconds in Tokyo on Tuesday.
He took almost a second off his previous world best of 46.70secs he set in Oslo at the start of July.
He finished ahead of the USA’s Rai Benjamin (46.17s) and Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos (46.72s) – with both coming inside Kevin Young’s time of 46.78s the American set nearly 30 years ago.
Warholm told the BBC: “You know the cliche that it hasn’t sunk in yet? I don’t think it has but I feel ecstatic.
“I cant believe the time, it’s so fast. A lot of the time I am asked about the perfect race. I said it didn’t exist but this is the closest I’ve ever come.
“I told myself going in to the race, remember all the work you have put in. It was the only thing missing from my (medal) collection. I can’t describe how important this is for me. This is what I do morning until night, it’s huge.”
Warholm led from the start but Benjamin looked like he was about to reel him in with 90 metres to go.
Yet Warholm found an extra gear to pull away in the final 60 metres and add the Olympic title to his two World Championship crowns and European gold.
