EUGENE, Ore. — The forgotten and unknown crashed the world track and field championships Tuesday night. A coronation of twin Norwegian forces of nature turned into a celebration of the unexpected. A 28-year-old journeyman from Great Britain forced the Olympic record holder to concede on the homestretch. A long-limbed Brazilian broke free from the two greatest runners in his event’s history, and an American stole a bronze medal as the unbeatable whippet known as “The Terminator” faded to seventh.
Norwegian stars are stunned on a wild night at the world championships
A leading Norwegian newspaper blared a headline Tuesday morning in Oslo: “Hunting Two Gold Tonight.” Norway stunningly settled for one silver on a frenzied night at Hayward Field. Jake Wightman, who had never won a global championship medal, stormed past Jakob Ingebrigtsen halfway through the final lap of the 1,500 meters — with his father, Geoff, calling the race as the in-stadium announcer. Minutes later, Karsten Warholm, who had not lost a 400-meter hurdles race that he finished since 2018, surged to an early lead and tumbled to almost-last, diminished by recent injury.
American Rai Benjamin finally beat the rival who stopped him from winning gold in Tokyo, but he couldn’t claim the top of the podium. Brazilian Alison dos Santos, a bronze medalist footnote at that epic Olympic final last summer, dusted Benjamin and everybody else as he won in 46.29 seconds.
Benjamin finished in 46.89 for silver, but he felt happier for his teammate. Trevor Bassitt, who runs without sponsorship, finished third in 47.39 seconds. When his time popped up on the scoreboard, Benjamin rushed from behind and tackled him to the track. “Can somebody sign this man!?” Benjamin hollered on the track.
“I knew if I got a medal,” Bassitt said, “people would be shocked.”
That’s the kind of night it was. Before Tuesday night, Wightman’s biggest accomplishment in the 1,500 had been a bronze medal at the European championships. He reached his first Olympics last summer and finished 10th while Ingebrigtsen set an Olympic record at 21. Nobody in track circles really noticed when Wightman had been run off his feet.
“Tokyo was way more disappointing to me than people realized,” Wightman said. “I was pretty scarred by it.”
Over the past year, Wightman improved his strength by running longer distances. On the start line, he believed he could stay with the pack and still conserve enough energy for a world-class kick with about 150 meters left.
Ingebrigtsen took control of the race after two laps and held off the pack, seemingly cruising to another grand prize. Wightman, keeping pace just behind, darted to the outside and sprinted even with, then past, Ingebrigsten around the final turn. Ingebrigtsen summoned his kick. Wightman crept further into the lead. With 50 meters to go, Ingebrigtsen craned his neck and looked behind him. The best miler in the world realized he was running for second.
“For everybody else, a silver medal is a great achievement,” Ingebrigtsen said. “That’s not why I’m running.”
At the top of Hayward Field, Geoff Wightman felt surprise alongside a mix of pride and duty. He tried to identify the medalists and call the times and do his job. He also watched his son pull off Great Britain’s first gold since 1983.
“I must have called Jake home 10 or 12 times in international championships, so I am familiar with it,” Geoff said. “It’s just that he’s never done better than bronze. It’s difficult. If I get carried away, I’ll get thrown off the event. If I act really robotic, it’s like, ‘Do you not care? Are you not excited about your son? What’s wrong with you?’ ”
Afterward, Wightman found his mother in the stands and hugged her. An in-stadium interviewer informed him, he was now the world champion. “I know,” Wightman said. “Crazy.”
The reporter then turned to Wightman’s mother, Susan, who coached Wightman until he turned 16. She declared herself “the proudest mum in the whole stadium — in the world.” Shortly thereafter, Wightman ran a fifth lap around Hayward, this one with the Union Jack draped over his back.
“Whatever happens the rest of my career, I’m a world champion,” Wightman said.
The final race of the night produced another surprise champion. Benjamin and Warholm renewed a rivalry that took the event to unthinkable levels last summer. At the start of 2021, American Kevin Young’s world record had stood at 46.78 seconds for 29 years. Benjamin came within 0.05 seconds at the U.S. Olympic trials, and days later Warholm seized the record at 46.70. In Tokyo, on a bouncy track, Warholm and Benjamin engaged in perhaps the greatest race in Olympic history. Benjamin took an early lead and obliterated Warholm’s record in 46.17. But Warholm separated in the final 50 meters and crossed in 45.94, tearing a hole in his singlet as he become the first man to break 46 seconds.
Before Tuesday night’s final, Benjamin had warned against expecting the same performance. Neither had been at his best this year — dos Santos had run the fastest time of 2022.
Although Benjamin’s training had been hampered by tendinitis that required a platelet-rich plasma injection after the U.S. championships, Tuesday’s final was his best chance to conquer his inexorable rival. Warholm suffered a small hamstring tear during a race June 5, which truncated his preparation and as late as last week, he claimed, endangered his participation. (“I had no doubts,” Benjamin said.) Benjamin was also running in front of his home fans, in a stadium at which he had collected a pile of championships.
Warholm bolted out of the blocks and controlled the race for 300 meters, a gold-or-nothing strategy given his dearth of recent training. He never felt his hamstring grab. But he did feel lactic acid pulse through his legs. He watched the nearly entire field pass him before finishing in 48.42 seconds.
“I’ve been living on this cloud for the last three or four years, where everything is going my way,” he said. “With this injury, I have to do things a little bit differently. Somehow, I hope that one day I can be proud of coming here, given the circumstances. But it’s a bit of a weird feeling.”
In front of him, a blowout ensued. Dos Santos claimed his first major championship at age 22, turning an impenetrable duo into a fearsome trio.
“I want to open the door for the Brazilian guys, for everybody,” dos Santos said. “They can see I’m from a small city. My family is not a rich family. They see me. I can show the way.”
Benjamin couldn’t keep pace with dos Santos, a product of his own health issues. He suffered from a harsh case of covid earlier this year, and he will undergo a more invasive procedure on his hamstring tendon that will end his season. He felt his hamstring “light up” around the final turn, but he ignored the pain when he heard the crowd chant, “U-S-A!”
“That was more fulfilling to me than a gold,” Benjamin said. “I just didn’t know what the hell was going to happen.”
Benjamin took little satisfaction in finally conquering Warholm given their respective conditions. “I’m not into kicking people when they’re down,” Benjamin said. “He’s hurt. I’m hurt.”
Behind Benjamin, the final shock of the night unfolded. Bassitt not only has no sponsors — he also has no coach. In January, his mentor Jud Logan died of leukemia. All year long, Bassitt developed his own workout plans. Logan had texted Bassitt the summer of 2021 that he would reach the world championships final. “I’ll do what I can to prove you right,” Bassitt wrote back. Tuesday night, he did even more than that.
Bassitt carried his personal mantra to the start line: “Run terrified.” Out in Lane 8, Bassitt couldn’t see anyone in the field. Coming around the last turn, Bassitt found himself in a pack of runners.
“The 400 hurdles is a technical race, but at the end of the day it’s about grit,” Bassitt said. “I’ve always prided myself on my toughness, on my grittiness. When it comes down the last 100 meters, if I’m shoulder to shoulder, I feel like I can get them.”
He passed two, maybe three rivals during the final 50-meter sprint and crossed even with Frenchman Wilfried Happio. He thought he had edged Happio for bronze, but he needed to see his name on the board to confirm.
“It felt like forever,” Bassitt said.
About 15 seconds passed before his saw it: Bassitt in third, 47.39 seconds, a personal best. Benjamin rushed at him from behind and tackled him to the track.
“Unbelievable,” Bassitt said. “I couldn’t even describe the feeling.”
Three days after he won the 100-meter final, Fred Kerley missed the 200-meter final after he felt a twinge in his left hamstring and finished sixth in his heat. He suffered only a cramp, per a Team USA spokeswoman, and could be considered for Saturday’s 4×100 relay. Noah Lyles won his heat in 19.62 seconds, a strikingly fast time for a semifinal. He perhaps learned a lesson from last summer’s Olympics, where he pulled up in a semifinal and barely qualified before winning bronze.
Source: WP
