Ultimate preview: men's 400m hurdles

Alison dos Santos, Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin in the 2022 world final in Oregon (© Getty Images)

Semifinals: Saturday 12 Sep, 19:57Final: Sunday 13 Sep, 18:36

Contenders:Rai Benjamin (USA) 🏅 🌍Alison dos Santos (BRA) 💎Karsten Warholm (NOR)Ezekiel Nathaniel (NGR)Abderrahman Samba (QAT)Emil Agyekum (GER)Matheus Lima (BRA)Caleb Dean (USA)Trevor Bassitt (USA)Matic Ian Guček (SLO)İsmail Nezir (TUR)Yeral Nuñez (DOM)Bassem Hemeida (QAT)Oskar Edlund (SWE)Kemorena Tisang (BOT)Owe Fischer-Breiholz (GER)

World lead: 45.80 Alison dos Santos (BRA) Zurich, 27 Aug2026 world list | world rankings

World record: 45.80 Alison dos Santos (BRA) Zurich, 27 Augworld all-time list | world record progression

As pre-major championship statements go, they don’t get much bigger than a world record. Brazil’s Alison dos Santos stunned the world when he clocked 45.80 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Zurich at the end of last month, that performance taking 0.14 off the world 400m hurdles record set by Karsten Warholm in 2021.

And it was the manner in which he achieved it – making up the stagger on Warholm by half way and easing ahead, the 26-year-old making history as he hit the finish line.

Something very special could be coming at the Ultimate Championship, especially as the event will pit Dos Santos and Warholm against Rai Benjamin – the Olympic and world champion who is eyeing a 400m and 400m hurdles double in Budapest.

Dos Santos had already been in impressive form before his 45.80. The 2022 world champion held the world lead of 46.43 – then the sixth-fastest performance in history – which he set in Silesia and he had won all four of his clashes against Norway’s three-time world champion Warholm in 2026 to that point. But his run in Zurich was on another level.

He closed his Diamond League campaign with another win – taking the series title in Brussels.

Warholm has certainly not been slacking, either. The Norwegian hurdles star, who set the former world record of 45.94 when winning his Olympic title in Tokyo, clocked 46.52 to finish behind Dos Santos in Silesia and he also won at the London Diamond League and European Championships – securing a record fourth successive continental men's 400m hurdles title.

He also knows how it feels to win in Budapest – the 30-year-old claimed the third of his world crowns in the Hungarian capital.

The event gives them the opportunity to renew their rivalry with Benjamin. The US 29-year-old switched his focus to the 400m flat for 2026 but in his sole hurdles appearance of the year so far he clocked 46.67 for a clear victory during a promotional event at the Lausanne Diamond League. It will be the first time these three athletes – the top three in history – will clash since last year’s World Championships final.

Others looking to make an impact include Brazil’s Matheus Lima and Qatar's Abderrahman Samba, the world bronze medallist behind Benjamin and Dos Santos in Tokyo, as well as world fourth-place finisher Ezekiel Nathaniel of Nigeria who won the Commonwealth Games title in Glasgow.

Jess Whittington for World Athletics

Title key: 🏅 Olympic champion, 🌍 world champion, 💎 Diamond League champion