Abderrahman Samba's return to form has ignited hopes of a podium finish against the sport’s elite.
Doha, Qatar: The men’s 400m hurdles has arguably reached its golden era, with the current field regarded as the strongest in the history of the discipline.
At the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, the battle for the title is shaping up to be one of the fiercest at the global event.
Leading the charge are the three fastest hurdlers of all time – Karsten Warholm, Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos – who are expected to contest for the top honours, with the possibility of a new world record looming.
But for Qatar, all eyes will be on the resurgent Abderrahman Samba, whose return to form has ignited hopes of a podium finish against the sport’s elite.
Warholm enters the championships as the favourite, having clocked a season-best of 46.28 at the Silesia Diamond League. The Norwegian superstar will be eyeing an improvement on his world record of 45.94, which he set at the Tokyo Olympics.
American Rai Benjamin, the reigning Paris Olympic champion, will also be a top contender. Benjamin, who posted a personal best of 46.17 during his silver-medal run in Tokyo, enters with the second-best time this season at 46.54.
Brazil’s Dos Santos, the 2022 world champion in Oregon, adds further firepower to the line-up with a season-best of 46.65, following his 46.29 title-winning performance two years ago.
Amid this exceptional field, Samba has shown promising signs of a return to his peak. Long plagued by injuries, the Qatari star delivered a series of strong performances in the recently concluded Diamond League season, hinting at a potential breakthrough on the world stage.
The Asian record holder, with a time of 46.98 set during his stellar 2018 season, currently ranks as the fourth-fastest hurdler this year. He clocked an impressive 47.09 in Paris in June and followed that with a solid 47.34 in Silesia. At the Diamond League finale in Zurich, Samba further proved his mettle by finishing second behind Warholm with a time of 47.45.
Samba’s journey has been marked by both highs and challenges. He claimed a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships in Doha, but missed the entire 2020 season. At the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics held in 2021, he placed fifth in a competitive final. A hamstring injury then sidelined him for much of the 2022 season.
However, in a strong statement of resilience, Samba returned to winning ways in October 2023, claiming his second consecutive Asian Games gold medal in Hangzhou.
While Warholm, Benjamin and Dos Santos will headline the showdown, other notable names include Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel, who set a national record of 47.31 in Silesia, and Americans Caleb Dean and Chris Robinson, both of whom have clocked 47.76 this year.
The men’s 400m hurdles heats will take place on September 15, followed by the semi-finals on September 17, with the final scheduled for September 19.
Qatar will be represented by 12 athletes at the World Championships, which get underway on Saturday. Three-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist Mutaz Barshim joins Samba as one of Al Annabi’s key medal hopefuls in Tokyo.
