Qatar’s Ismail Abakar celebrates after qualifying for the men’s 400m hurdles final. AFP
Doha: Qatar made history at the World Athletics Championships yesterday when Abderrahman Samba and Ismail Abakar both made it to the final of the men’s 400 metres hurdles event in Tokyo.
Tomorrow’s final will be the first time in which more than one Qatari athlete will be taking part in a World Championship final.
In yesterday’s semi-finals, former World Championship bronze winner Samba proved he is a top contender for a medal, taking first place with a time of 47.63 seconds in the first heat, ahead of the current world record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway.
Warholm came second at 47.72 seconds.
Minutes later, Team Qatar camp was in for a double delight when 21-year-old Abakar also reserved a lane in tomorrow’s final.
Qatar’s athlete Abderrahman Samba competes in the men’s 400m hurdles semi-finals.
Abakar came second in his heat with a time of 47.61 seconds, his personal best, while Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel clocked the fastest time of the semi-finals (47.47 seconds) to win the contest.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s third entrant, Bassem Hemeida narrowly missed out on a finals berth in a star-studded third heat which saw two of the fastest one-lap hurdlers of all time - Rai Benjamin and Alison Dos Santos in action.
American Benjamin, the reigning Olympic champion, lived up to his status by easily securing his spot in the final with a time of 47.95. The second place was snatched by Brazil’s Santos, who is also a former world champion. Santos withstood a tough challenge from Hemeida in the final stretch and eventually finished ahead of the Qatari hurdler, clocking a time of 48.16 as the Asian Championships silver winner missed out on a spot in tomorrow’s final after finishing at 48.29 seconds.
With Qatari runners occupying two lanes in the final, which will see four former World Championship podium winners, Benjamin told international media that he thinks “it’s going to be really fast.”
At the 2019 Doha Worlds, Warholm won the gold medal ahead of Benjamin and Samba, who finished second and third, respectively. In contrast, Santos prevailed in the 2022 Eugene final, where the American finished second.
A year later, the Norwegian took his revenge by reclaiming the gold as Benjamin came third behind silver winner Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands.
“I hope it’s historic, and I hope I’m on the right side of history this time. Coming out here, you can never be on the wrong side of history,” a confident Benjamin said after the semi-final yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Norwegian superstar, who is in the hunt for a fourth world title, said he was not worried about finishing second behind Samba and it was all part of his strategy.
“He could get a first place if he wanted to because honestly, I don’t care,” said Warholm.
“I can have an outside lane in the final, it’ll be fun.”
