Alison dos Santos has broken the men’s 400m hurdles world record at the Zurich Diamond League, running 45.80s to beat Karsten Warholm’s mark from 2021.Dos Santos, running from lane six, took 0.14s off the time that Warholm ran for gold in the Olympic final five years ago. Warholm of Norway was second in 46.69s, nearly a second back on the Brazilian, with Ezekiel Nathaniel from Nigeria in third (47.50s). Seven of the eight men broke 49 seconds, with sixth-place Matic Ian Gucek running a Slovenian national record (47.80s).It was an immaculate performance by Dos Santos, the 2022 world champion and two-time Olympic bronze medallist. He was the third-fastest man all-time before this race (46.29s PB), and used the fast-starting Warholm, who ran one lane outside him, to his advantage. By the third hurdle he had made up the stagger, and he built on a lead of 0.47s at halfway, closing quicker than the rest of the field.
This run means Dos Santos follows Warholm as only the second man under the 46-second barrier. Four days ago at the Silesia Diamond League, Dos Santos, 26, ran 46.43s to win ahead of the Norwegian, with that performance the fourth-quickest ever before tonight.“From Silesia it did not look like it (his performance) was going to come today, I would say,” Warholm said after the race. “But after the hurdle 4-5 he (Dos Santos) looked extremely good. So nothing to do with him. He was brilliant. Honestly, I felt strong. It is 46.69. So it is really good, but on the other hand, it is like nothing to do. I just cannot go out there and run one second faster because he does it. That is not how it works. So I have got to get back to the drawing board and do something else. I still feel I can do something about it.”Zurich marks a fifth Diamond League win in 2026 for Dos Santos, and while he is down 12-8 on the all-time head-to-head with Warholm, it’s the Brazilian who has been victorious in their past six meetings, ever since he took bronze and Warholm silver at the Paris Olympics.The duo, in addition Olympic and world champion Rai Benjamin, the U.S. athlete, are expected to face off at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championships in Budapest, Hungary, next month. They are the fastest three men in hurdles history — Dos Santos (45.80s WR), Warholm (45.94s), Benjamin (46.17s).
