TOKYO—For the second day in a row, an American runner broke the world record in the 400-meter hurdles here—and went home with a silver medal.
This time, however, the winner was also from Team USA.
The gold medalist was Sydney McLaughlin, who charged ahead of teammate and defending Olympic gold medalist Dahlia Muhammad after the final hurdle to win the women’s 400 hurdles in 51.46 seconds. Muhammad crossed second in 51.58 seconds. Both Americans ran faster than the previous world record of 51.90, set by McLaughlin at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in June.
Just a day earlier, the same thing played out in the men’s field. Karsten Warholm of Norway obliterated his world record by three-quarters of a second to finish in 45.95 seconds. Just behind him was Rai Benjamin of the United States, whose time of 46.12 was nearly a half second faster than any man had ever hurdled around one lap of the track—until Tuesday.
“I don’t understand how this is all happening, honestly,” said Viktoriya Tkachuk of Ukraine, who finished sixth on Wednesday.
