Rai Benjamin on 400m hurdles world record: ‘It could be a lot faster. I feel I’m the one who could do that’
The reigning Olympic and world silver medallist, who is preparing to compete in the 2023 World Athletics Championships, spoke exclusively to Olympics.com about what it would take for him to break the world record in his event, how sticking with the right people is key to success, and a potential one-on-one with world 110m hurdles champ Grant Holloway.
Athletics
The race for the 400m hurdles world record is a very hot topic right now at the World Athletics Championships 203 - and there is a good reason for it:
The top three marks ever have all been set within the past two years, with Olympic champion Karsten Warholm top of the list having stormed home in 45.94 seconds at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Just behind him is US hurdler Rai Benjamin, whose own time of 46.17 in the Olympic final would have been enough to become the world record holder had the Norwegian not been in the race.
In third place is Brazil’s Alison dos Santos (46.29) who pipped Benjamin to the world title in Hayward Field, Oregon in July 2022.
All three athltes are featured at Budapest 2023.
For Benjamin, who stood on the second step of the podium in both of those last two major championships, running the fastest time ever isn’t something that he feels is in any way out of reach.
“I think it could be a lot faster in my opinion,” he said when the subject was broached in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com.
“I feel like I’m the one who could definitely do that if I figure out my life, if I figure out how to run this event a lot more efficiently than I have in the past few years.”
Rai Benjamin on pushing each other
The history books have been torn up over the past two years after the 19-year-old record of 46.78 by Benjamin’s compatriot Kevin Young was shattered by Warholm at the last Olympic Games.
Now Young sits only fourth on the all-time list, ahead of the likes of legend Edwin Moses who ruled the hurdles scene in the 1980s.
And Benjamin has been at the heart of this recent redefinition of what’s possible in his event.
“I feel like I was sort of the catalyst for all this to happen,” he says. “I distinctly remember in 2018, Dos Santos wasn’t really on the scene. It was Warholm and [Abderrahman] Samba, they were consistently running 47 mids, 47 highs, and then I ran 47.0. And then I pop onto the scene and now everyone’s running super fast.
“So I feel like we pushed each other because no one wants to be that guy that’s losing.”
The past year has seen injuries affect both Warholm and Dos Santos, with the latter suffering a significant knee injury just last February that saw him out of competitive action until just weeks before the Worlds.
However, Benjamin, who is aware that the competition offered by this generation of talent is capable of raising the bar even further in the sport, is hopeful that all three can be on the start line of Paris 2024.
And if that is the case, the prospect of the world record once again being shattered could be as much a reality as a dream.
“I hope we’re all healthy next year and we could do something really special in the event,” he says. “And just make people really excited about the 400 hurdles.”
Rai Benjamin and the race to be the fastest hurdler on earth
The idea of bringing more excitement to track & field is headline news right now.
And one proposal that has gained traction over the past months is bringing back one-on-one events that pit two great athletes against each other in a race for bragging rights.
In June 1997, Olympic 200m/400m champion Michael Johnson and Olympic 100m winner Donovan Bailey did exactly that when they faced off against each other over 150m for the title of “world’s fastest man”.
The hype generated by that race was sensational, with the winner offered 1.5 million dollars in combined appearance and victory fees.
Since then, lasy year's 100m world champion Fred Kerley has suggested a one-on-one race with his rival, Italian Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs.
And Benjamin revealed that he too would love to take on a similar challenge, although his favoured opponent in the race may not be who most would expect it to be.
“I would race Grant Holloway over 200m hurdles whenever he’s ready,” Benjamin says confidently of a potential matchup with the world 110m hurdles champion. “I feel like that’s something Grant and I have been talking about for like two years now.
“You know I’d do it with Grant, I’d do it with Karsten [Warholm], I’d do it with Dos Santos. Whoever thinks they’re more than capable of running 200m hurdles, I’m definitely willing to do it, if things are right, it’s marketed right and we get a lot of excitement.”
Rai Benjamin: "Chase excellence, chase perfection - and if you fall, you fall into success.”
Benjamin’s idea of running a 200m hurdles isn’t the only time he speaks about testing himself in distances he’s not usually associated with.
“I find that exciting, dropping down in other people’s events and giving them a run for their money,” says the Tokyo 2020 4x400m relay gold medallist who owns personal bests of 44.21 in the 400m flat, 19.99 in the 200m and 10.03 in the 100m.
But while he has proved himself capable of chasing his dreams all the way to the highest echelons of his sport, he gives the impression that he is an athlete with his feet firmly on the ground.
“The grass is never greener,” he says of the lessons he has learned that will help him as he aims for gold at Paris 2024.
“No matter how prepared you are, there’s always something that’s going to pop up and it’s how you deal with those bumps in the road that define you as an athlete.”
And while times may change - even those world record times that he has within his sights - one thing that isn’t likely to change is the person Benjamin wants to be.
“I feel like you are the product of who you surround yourself with,” he says. “So if you surround yourself with good people who are doing excellent things, who are successful by default, then you will be.
“I always say, chase excellence, chase perfection - and if you fall, you fall into success.”