Tokyo 2020 - Greg Rutherford says Karsten Warholm's performance in 400m hurdles looks set to be highlight of Olympics

ByNadeem Badshah

Updated 03/08/2021 at 16:51 GMT

It has been described as one of the greatest performances on the track of all time. Norway's Karsten Warholm clocked the first ever sub-46 second time in the 400m hurdles to win gold, breaking his own record. The Norwegian double world champion recorded a time of 45.94 seconds in the Olympic final, leaving Greg Rutherford, who was trackside, almost lost for words.

Greg Rutherford believes the highlight of the Tokyo Games looks to be Karsten Warholm smashing the world record to win the men's 400m hurdles.

The Norwegian, 25, finished in 45.94 seconds to slash more than seven-tenths of a second off his old record. He had set the previous fastest time of 46.70 in Oslo in July.

American Rai Benjamin won silver in the Olympic final having also beaten the previous record.

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Speaking on Eurosport's Tokyo Today programme, 2012 Olympic long jump champion Rutherford said: "My event of the day, and probably I mean it's possibly going to be the event of the entire Olympic Games for me, the men's 400m hurdles.

Karsten Warholm gold medal

Image credit: Eurosport

"Karsten Warholm doesn't just break his own world record, he annihilates it, and becomes the first man in history to run sub-46 seconds.

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"I genuinely didn't believe in my lifetime I would see the four hurdles run that fast.

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"Super fast times on this incredible track, and the fact that the silver and bronze medal also would have won every Olympic title in the history of the event that shows you how impressive Karsten's run was."

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