[imagesource: BBC Sport]

That’s the face you make when you smash the world record, in what many are now calling the greatest race in Olympic history.

I’m sticking with Wayde van Niekerk’s 400-metre gold in Rio back in 2016, but you have to award Norway’s Karsten Warholm extra points for his reaction after crossing the finish line.

One month after he broke the 400-metre men’s hurdles world record, which had stood for 29 years, he became the first person in history to clock a sub-46-second time, with his 45,94 obliterating the prior record of 46,70.

The most staggering stat of all is that Warholm ran a better time than 18 of the 48 men who competed in the regular 400-metre race at this year’s Olympic Games.

American Rai Benjamin claimed silver, in a time that beat Warholm’s previous world record by more than half a second, and was full of praise for the Norwegian, reports Axios:

“That was the best race in Olympic history. I don’t even think Usain Bolt’s 9.5 topped that. Everyone in this event should be getting paid big bucks, in all honesty.”

Benjamin would like that, but it’s a fair shout, all things considered.

To put things into perspective, only four runners in history have clocked sub-47 second times, and Warholm broke the 46-second barrier.

Here’s the race:

HURDLES? WHAT HURDLES? Norway’s KARSTEN WARHOLM’s world record of 45.94 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles was a faster time than 18 of the 48 men who raced in the regular 400-meter dash. pic.twitter.com/BaeFZJFZrY

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) August 3, 2021

Ozzie broadcaster Bruce McAvaney told Channel 7 viewers the race “will go down as the greatest 400m hurdles ever run and arguably the greatest race we have seen at an Olympic Games”.

Co-commentator Tamsyn Manou went one further, saying viewers had “just seen the most magnificent race at an Olympics in history”.

Warholm said it went perfectly to plan. Below via CNN:

“I ran sort of scared, but that’s something that I always do,” Warholm added. “I knew that with my fast opening, I was up on the side of dos Santos and Samba really early in the race.

“That was my tactic today, I think I won on tactics. I really went out hard and tried to get the guys with me … after that I just ran for my life. I would have died for that gold medal.”

The Norwegian’s celebrations after crossing the finish line were rivalled by family and friends, who gathered in his hometown’s sports hall to watch on:

These reaction videos are one of my favourite parts of the Olympics.

[sources:axios&cnn]