Rai Benjamin wins U.S. gold medal in 400m hurdles : NPR

SAINT-DENIS, France — Rai Benjamin simply upgraded his silver to gold on the Paris Olympics at Stade de France on Friday within the 400-meter hurdles.

He might have been 0.29 seconds slower than his silver-medal exhibiting on the Tokyo Video games three years in the past, however it was sufficient to beat defending gold champion and world document holder Karsten Warholm of Norway.

He matched his seasonal greatest time of 46.46 seconds — 0.6 seconds forward of Warholm, who completed second for silver. Alison dos Santos of Brazil gained the bronze.

The 27-year-old had been battling damage for a lot of the previous yr. A nerve flare-up in his again created points in his quads, forcing him to relaxation earlier than the world championships a few yr in the past. It’s why some monitor watchers didn’t suppose he’d do properly in Paris.

“It does suck to see folks doubting your skills, not realizing the total story,” he mentioned. “There’s plenty of stuff that occurs off the monitor that no person actually sees.

However, he mentioned, “that is about proving myself proper.”

“To do it right here means loads. I have been doing all of it season,” he mentioned.