AFTER AN ABSURDLY EASY 47.97 to win his semi, Rai Benjamin admitted that he was not at the Trials chasing a fast time. “It’s all about making the team,” he said. The drama would, yes, be about making the team — for everyone else.
Though he is now a global star, the 26-year-old Benjamin, a New Yorker who ran for UCLA, USC and once on a relay team as a 17-year-old for his parents’ native Antigua, has never won the World Championships or the Olympics, even though he owns the second-fastest time in history, the famous 46.17 AR in losing to Karsten Warholm in the ‘21 Olympics.
That rematch between the intense Norwegian and the calm, tall American has been in the oxygen for years, and now it is just weeks away in Paris. Global television awaits.
The 9-man final was one of the best fields in history — the slowest PR in the field belonged to Arizonan James Smith (48.97). Five in the 47s, plus Benjamin.
He drew lane 7, bracketed by contenders CJ Allen, the Washington State grad, and Trevor Bassitt, from Div.II Ashland. Those three had comprised the U.S. team at last year’s Worlds.
Many eyes were also on Caleb Dean, the 23-year-old Marylander who had won the NCAA for Texas Tech in a stunning 47.23, giving him the second-best PR in the field. Dean was in 5, between Bassitt and the NCAA runner-up, Alabama’s Chris Robinson.
Dean went for it. Because touch-down times are available for each hurdle, we know that by hurdle 4, Benjamin (16.94) was trailing both Dean and Robinson by two full tenths (16.74). By hurdle 5 they had widened that advantage to nearly 0.3.
Then Benjamin’s steady drive took over from the fast starters. Between hurdles 6 and 7 he required just 3.84 seconds compared with 4.26 for Dean. Between 7 and 8 it was 4.06 versus 4.53 as Rai took nearly a full-second lead and was in command heading for the final straight, at which point Dean crashed while Robinson battled to hold on against the onrushing pair of Allen and Bassitt.
At the final hurdle Robinson was still in the hunt, but he lost out on the run-in as Allen outleaned Bassitt for 2nd while Robinson also broke 48 but settled for 4th. Dean failed to finish.
Benjamin’s 46.46 winning time broke his own OT Record of 46.83 from ‘21 and is the fifth-fastest time ever run — if a bit slower than he ran (46.39) in defeating Warholm at last September’s DL Final in Eugene.
Benjamin has never lost a USATF Championships race — he’s won every one since ‘19 — and he has not lost to another American in the intermediate hurdles since the ’17 NCAA final to Eric Futch, 48.32–48.33, when he was 19.
“Execution-wise I give it a C+,”Benjamin said. “I hit like maybe 3 or 4 hurdles — because I was really hot in the warmup and I was a little too amped up and I was actually going for it today. And when I hit those — I hit like two on the backstretch — I had to kind of just back off and settle into this weird rhythm and kick coming home. But I can go ahead and breathe, I’m on the team so that’s a good thing. So all in all a C+ for today, but I was happy that I was able to make my second Olympic team and get this weight off my back. It’s like, ‘Ah, air!’”
MEN’S 400H RESULTS
FINAL (June 30)
1. Rai Benjamin (Nike) 46.46 (WL, AL) (x, 5 W; x, 3 A)
(11.41, 11.05 [22.46], 11.34 [33.80], 12.66) (22.46/24.00);
2. CJ Allen (Asics) 47.81
(11.54, 11.11 [22.65], 11.89 [34.54], 13.27) (22.65/25.16);
3. Trevor Bassitt (unat) 47.82
(11.68, 11.02 [22.70], 12.06 [34.76], 13.06) (22.70/25.12);
4. Chris Robinson (Al) 47.96
(11.46, 10.84 [22.30], 12.43 [34.73], 13.23) (22.30/25.66);
5. James Smith (AzF) 49.18;
6. Aldrich Bailey (USAr) 49.73;
7. David Kendziera (unat) 49.84;
8. Khallifah Rosser (Nike) 53.18;
… dnf—Caleb Dean (TxT) (11.43, 10.92 [22.35], 12.55 [34.90]).
HEATS (June 27)
I–1. Benjamin 49.56; 2. Smith 50.28; 3. Corde Long (Al) 50.42; 4. Aaron Shirley (Harv) 50.44; 5. Clayton Elder (Al) 51.98; 6. Noah-Cameron Langford (How) 53.27.
II–1. Robinson 49.54; 2. Rosser 49.93; 3. Ryan Fields (CPP) 50.50; 4. Christopher Brinkley (Tx) 50.71; 5. Jared McAlvey (WaSt) 50.91; 6. Cole Romig (Co) 51.01.
III–1. Dean 49.45; 2. Vance Nilsson (AzHS) 50.13 PR; 3. Sean Burrell (LSU) 50.76; 4. Jameson Woodell (Rut) 50.90; 5. Caleb Cavanaugh (Tx) 51.50; 6. Darek Hackett (AFA) 52.78;… dq—Jacques Guillaume (Navy).
IV–1. Bassitt 50.29; 2. Bailey 50.41; 3. Jonathan Birchman (Wa) 50.68; 4. Sam Hartman (unat) 50.98; 5. Drake Schneider (TS) 51.50; 6. Will Reemtsma (unat) 52.39; 7. Robert Williams (Il) 53.52.
V–1. Allen 50.08; 2. Kendziera 50.72; 3. Ryan Matulonis (Penn) 50.73; 4. Alexander Sherman (Va) 50.76; 5. Brian Matthews (Army) 50.81; 6. Shareez Hamm (AArt) 50.92; 7. Xavier Branker (NCSt) 51.77.
SEMIS (June 28)
I–1. Bassitt 49.02; 2. Robinson 49.34; 3. Smith 49.43; 4. Long 50.05; 5. Hartman 50.50; 6. Hamm 51.02; 7. Brinkley 51.20; 8. Matulonis 51.30; 9. Cavanaugh 53.06.
II–1. Dean 48.92; 2. Rosser 49.72;
3. Nilsson 49.77 (=4, =4 HS);
4. Fields 50.78; 5. Sherman 51.33; 6. Elder 51.72; 7. Birchman 51.86; 8. Woodell 52.77; 9. Schneider 53.77.
III–1. Benjamin 47.97; 2. Allen 48.16; 3. Bailey 48.69; 4. Kendziera 49.22; 5. Shirley 49.58 PR; 6. Burrell 50.26; 7. Matthews 50.83; 8. Romig 51.22; 9. McAlvey 51.78.