The Age of the Super Hurdler, Part II
by Steve McGill
In the men’s 400m hurdles, there are three hurdlers over the past two years who have raised the standards of excellence to an extreme degree. At the forefront has been Karsten Warholm of the Netherlands, America’s Rai Benjamin, and Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos. In 2021, Warholm proved to be invincible. No matter how fast his competitors ran, he ran faster. The 2021 Olympic final in Tokyo was undoubtedly the greatest race the event has ever seen, and has to be ranked among the very best races in any event in the history of the sport. Warholm’s 45.94 set a new standard in the event that we weren’t expecting to see for at least another decade. Sub-46? I don’t think anybody saw that coming. A world record? For sure. A 46-low? Maybe/probably. But sub-46 shocked the world. Benjamin’s 2nd-place finish in 46.17 was similarly mind-blowing, and Dos Santos’ 46.72 for third meant that all three medal winners finished faster than Kevin Young’s 1992 world record of 46.78 — a record set in 1992 that had stood until earlier in 2021.
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Heading into the 2022 season, there was every reason to expect more fireworks in this event, as both Warholm and Benjamin are in their mid-20’s while Dos Santos is in his early 20’s. But bouts with injuries and Covid led to subpar seasons for Warholm and Benjamin; Warholm only raced once prior to Worlds, and while Benjamin did look strong in winning the national title, he didn’t look like his 2021 self. Dos Santos, meanwhile, was looking very strong all year. Heading into the World Championships, he was looking like the best of the three hurdlers, even if he hadn’t surpassed the times the other two had run in 2021.
I think the biggest thing to consider as we look to the future is the stride pattern revolution that we are witnessing. Though Warholm remains more traditional, both Dos Santos and Benjamin are entering into the realm of 12-stepping part of the way. In Benjamin’s case, it doesn’t seem as planned or consistent, as he has referred to himself as “overstriding” in the past, so I can’t tell if he has actually intended to 12-step when he has done so. But Dos Santos seems to be implementing the 12-stepping into his race plan. At Worlds, he 12-stepped through hurdle five, and then 13-stepped the rest of the way. This seems equivalent to what Sydney does in the women’s race — 14-stepping through hurdle five and then 15-stepping the rest of the way.
The reason I think this is a really big deal is because, with the exception of Warholm duly noted, 12-stepping part of the way will probably become essential for those who are looking to run sub-47 on a regular basis. The first man to break 47.00 — the aforementioned Kevin Young in 1992, 12-stepped two hurdles on the backstretch — hurdles three and four. And now two of the guys running sub-47 in the modern era are also 12-stepping part of the way. Looking back to the days of Edwin Moses all the way up to two years ago, 13-stepping the whole race was considered the gold standard. If you go back and watch some of Moses’ fastest races, you’ll see that his 13-step pattern looks very crowded in the early part of races. There is no doubt in my mind that Moses could have 12-stepped at least hurdles three and four, if not the whole backstretch like Dos Santos. Therefore, there is no doubt in my mind that Moses could’ve run sub-47 had he decided to 12-step part of the way. But he was so far ahead of his time that I can understand why he didn’t bother taking the risk. Nobody else was running in the low-mid 47’s consistently for most of his career.
Would I go so far as to say that 12-stepping is the new 13-stepping? No, I wouldn’t as of now. Just like it took an exceptional athlete like Moses to maintain the 13-stride pattern the whole way, it’ll take an exceptional athlete to maintain the 12-stride pattern the whole way. I would add that it would need to be someone who is 6-5 or taller. In the meantime, though, I think that Dos Santos’ method of 12-stepping the first half of the race and 13-stepping the second half of the race will become the new model to be followed by those who are competing against him. Benjamin, instead of his hit-or-miss 12-stepping, will need to strategically plan to 12-step through five hurdles. Some of these other guys in the 47’s will need to progress in the same direction.
The event has moved forward. New standards have been set. There’s a very real possibility that if Warholm, Dos Santos, and Benjamin are all fully healthy next year, we might see all three go under 46. They’re all that good. The men’s 400 hurdles had been stagnating for much of the post-Moses years. Until these three hurdlers, no hurdler except Young had run faster than Moses’ 47.02. That’s why I call the current age the golden age; that’s why I refer to it as a revolution: because Moses is no longer the gold standard; there are finally athletes building upon what he did, taking the event further forward, creating new standards.
I don’t have much to say about the men’s 110 hurdles. I’m glad that Grant Holloway finally earned himself a gold medal at a major international competition, although I’m disappointed that Parchment, Roberts, and Allen weren’t in the race with him. But Holloway has been the top hurdler in the world for the past three years, really, so it was only a matter of time. Trey Cunningham continues to impress as well. Coming off an outstanding collegiate season, the heavy number of races didn’t seem to affect him at all. I like everything about his technique, his demeanor, and his overall competitiveness. He’ll be a top hurdler for years to come. Hopefully, he and Holloway and others can push this event to new standards, just like Warholm, Benjamin, and Dos Santos are doing in the 400 hurdles, and like McLaughlin, Muhammad, and Bol are doing in the women’s 400 hurdles, and like Amusan, Camacho-Quinn, and the rest of the women are doing in the 100 meter hurdles. Though Aries Merritt’s world record is going to be very hard to break, I would definitely like to see races in the 12.8 range become more common.
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