When the men’s 400m hurdlers stepped onto the track in Zurich on Thursday, the question on everybody’s lips was whether Alison Dos Santos could beat Karsten Warholm again.
What nobody realised was that they were about to witness something far more incredible.
Brazilian star Dos Santos had been in superb form all season, beating his old rival Warholm at three separate Diamond League meetings to establish himself as number one in the world.
Yet in Zurich, he took it to another level.
The first signs that something special was happening came after around 200 metres, as the gap between Dos Santos and Warholm began to open up in a way few had ever seen.
As they came around the final bend, the Brazilian had left his rival far behind him and now had his sights set on something else.
The Letzigrund Stadium was a wall of noise as he streaked away from Warholm on the home straight, and with good reason.
As he crossed the line, the Wanda Diamond League’s Official Timekeeper OMEGA clocked Dos Santos at 45.80, a new world record.
It was a full 0.14 seconds faster than Warholm’s previous world record from 2021. As he congratulated Dos Santos on the finish line, the Norwegian looked shellshocked.
Yet Dos Santos insisted that he knew something special was coming ahead of the race.
“I have been showing great form throughout the season – that I am fast, I am strong. We changed a lot of aspects of my training and racing in the preparation for this. I’m starting faster, I’m finishing stronger, and that is what I have to do to be able to break a world record,” he said.
“The crowd and the energy were perfect. I think this night was amazing for me, for those who came to watch – I did it for everybody. Also, for those watching from home. I hope that Brazil stopped to watch this as much as the people here in the stadium. This has been an incredible night. I have no words to explain what happened other than I just broke the world record.”
