One is tempted to say…Finally a gold medal for the United States. And what a gold medal it was! 19-year-old Chris Carter of Ogden, Utah, whose personal best and World Junior leading time coming into these championships was over one second faster than any other athlete in the field, didn’t disappoint and grabbed the USA’s first gold medal of the championships in the men’s 400m Hurdles final.
Carter’s winning time of 50.08 may have been well off his 49.19 PB, his winning margin was still impressive.
Saudi Arabia’s Bandar Shraheli set a personal best time of 50.34 to clinch silver ahead of Ukraine’s Stanislav Melnykov who also bettered the fastest time of his career to 50.43.
The American champion set off to a devastating pace taking a clear lead over his competitors as early as the second hurdle approached. Carter ran a very strong back straight and second bend to come into the final straight with an extremely comfortable lead.
He seemed to struggled coming off hurdle nine but that may just have been an impression also because the others had only just started to accelerate but a perfect flight over the final barrier and a good run in saw him cross the finish line an undisputed winner.
“I feel great,” Carter declared. “I am very satisfied with my result and I want to thank my family, my team-mates and my coach who supported me so much.”
“I started training about this time last year. I love it here, amazing stadium, amazing people, amazing country.”
