Alison dos Santos, Jake Wightman dethrone Karsten Warholm, Jakob Ingebrigtsen

In Norway, the newspaper headline translated to, “Hunting Two Gold Tonight.” Neither Karsten Warholm nor Jakob Ingebrigtsen delivered.

Brazilian Alison dos Santos dethroned Warholm in the 400m hurdles at the world track and field championships in Eugene, Oregon, on Tuesday night. Warholm, who in Tokyo shattered his world record to bring it down to 45.94 seconds, led at 250 meters but faded to seventh place at his first meet since suffering a hamstring tear June 5.

Dos Santos, who took bronze in Tokyo to become the third-fastest man in history, prevailed in 46.29 seconds, the third-fastest time in history.

It wasn’t much of an upset, given dos Santos came into worlds as the fastest man this year. But Warholm had not lost a 400m hurdles that he finished since his last race of 2018.

“Maybe being out for six weeks probably cost me a little bit,” Warholm said on the BBC. “I tried with everything I had. … Once that lactic hits you, there’s no going back.”

American Rai Benjamin took silver, a year after he ran faster than the previous world record at the Olympics for silver. American Trevor Bassitt, the NCAA Division II champion from Ashland University, earned bronze.

Earlier, the Brit Wightman pulled off a true upset in the 1500m, overtaking Ingebrigtsen at 1,300 meters and relegating the reigning Olympic champion to silver. Wightman did so with his father, Geoff, calling the race as the stadium public address announcer. Wightman was fifth at the last worlds in 2019 and 10th in Tokyo.

“That’s my son,” Geoff said on the PA, according to journalist Cathal Dennehy on site, “and he’s the world champion.”

Worlds continue Wednesday featuring finals in the women’s 3000m steeplechase and women’s discus.

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