Latest / Spoken News / In athletics, Masai Russell and Alison dos Santos break the world records for the 100 metres hurdles and men's 400 metres hurdles, respec...

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In athletics, Masai Russell and Alison dos Santos break the world records for the 100 metres hurdles and men's 400 metres hurdles, respec... · Spoken News

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spoken News, where Wikipedia excerpts are read verbatim
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  by a computer. In athletics, Masai Russell and Alisson dos
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  Santos break the world records for the 100m hurdles and
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  men's 400m hurdles, respectively at the VELCLASSES Zurich. Alisson Brendam
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  Alves dos Santos is a Brazilian hurdler and sprinter specializing
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  in the 400 meters hurdles. Competing in the 400 meters hurdles,
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  he is the 2022 world champion and won the bronze
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  medal at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics. On the
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  27th of August, 2026, Dos Santos broke the world record
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  in the event with a time of 45.80 seconds. In
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  addition to his world record, Dos Santos holds the South
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  American under 20 record in the 400 meters hurdles and
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  the world best in the rarely run 200 meters hurdles.
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  a gold medalist at the Pan American Games and South
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  American Championships in 2019. He was also the 2022 and
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  2024 Diamond League champion. Masai Russell is an American track
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  and field sprinter and hurdler. She won the gold medal
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  at the 2024 Summer Olympics in the 100m Hurdles event.
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  Russell is the world record holder in the 100m Hurdles,
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  running a time of 12.09 seconds on August 27, 2026.
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  In addition to her world record, Russell holds personal bests
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  of 7.74 seconds over the 60-meter hurdles, which is tied
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  for 13th fastest of all time, and 54.66 seconds over
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  the 400-meter hurdles. The 2026 Weltklasse Zurich was the 65th
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  edition of the annual outdoor track and field meeting held
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  in Zurich. Held on 26 and 27 August at Letzegrund,
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  it was the 14th leg of the 2026 Diamond League.
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  the highest level international track and field circuit. The 400
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  meters hurdles is a hurtling event in track and field.
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  The event has been on the Olympic athletics program since
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  1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a
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  standard outdoor track, 400 meters is the length of the
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  inside lane once around the stadium. Runners stay in their
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  lanes the entire way after starting out of the blocks
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  and must clear 10 hurdles that are evenly spaced around
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  the track. the hurdles are positioned and weighted so that
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  they fall forward if bumped into with sufficient force to
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  prevent injury to the runners. Although there is no longer
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  any penalty for knocking hurdles over, runners prefer to clear
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  them cleanly, as touching them during the race slows runners down.
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  The current men's and women's world record holders are Alison
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  Dos Santos with 45.80 seconds and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone with 50.37 seconds.
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  Compared to the 400 meters run, The hurdles race takes
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  the men about three seconds longer and the women four
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  seconds longer. Men clear hurdles that are 91.4 centimeters high,
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  while women negotiate 76.2 centimeters barriers. The 400 meters hurdles
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  was held for both sexes at the inaugural IAAF World
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  Championships in Athletics. The first championship for women came at
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  the 1980 World Championships in Athletics, being held as a
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  one-off due to the lack of a race at the
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  1980 Summer Olympics. The 100 meters hurdles, or 100 meter hurdles,
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  is a track and field event run mainly by women.
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  For the race, 10 hurdles of a height of 83.8
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  centimeters are placed along a straight course of 100 meters.
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  The first hurdle is placed after a run-up of 13
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  meters from the starting line. The next nine hurdles are
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  set at a distance of 8.5 meters from each other,
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  and the home stretch from the last hurdle to the
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  finish line is 10.5 meters long. The hurdles are set
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  up so that they will fall over if bumped into
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  by the runner but weighted so this is disadvantageous. Fallen
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  hurdles do not count against runners provided that they do
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  not run into them on purpose. Like the 100m sprint,
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  the 100m hurdles begins with athletes in starting blocks. The
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  fastest 100m hurdlers run the distance in well under 13 seconds.
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  The world record, set by Masai Russell, stands at 12.09 seconds.
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  World records in athletics are ratified by World Athletics. Athletics
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  records comprise the best performances in the sports of track
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  and field, road running, and race walking. Records are kept
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  for all events contested at the Olympic Games and some others.
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  Unofficial records for some other events are kept by track
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  and field statisticians. The only non-metric track distance for which
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  official records are kept is the mile run. That's it
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  for now. See the episode notes for sources and licensing.
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  Thank you.