 Rai Benjamin at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | July 27, 1997 Mount Vernon, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 77 kg (170 lb)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | United States[2][3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and field | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Hurdling, sprinting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | USC Trojans (2017, 2018) UCLA Bruins (2016) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | Nike[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turned pro | 2018[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Joanna Hayes[3] Quincy Watts[3] Caryl Smith Gilbert[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Olympic finals |
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| World finals |
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| Personal bests |
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Medal record
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Rai Benjamin (born July 27, 1997)[7] is an American hurdler and sprinter specializing in the 400 m and 400 m hurdles. He is the second fastest man in history in the 400 m hurdles with a personal best time of 46.17 s. He won a silver medal at his first Olympic Games in 2021 and won the 400 m hurdles race at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Benjamin also won silver medals and at the World Championships in 2019 and 2022 in the men's 400 m hurdles, and gold medals in the 4 × 400 m relay in 2019 and 2021.
In college, Benjamin ran for the UCLA Bruins and then the USC Trojans, where in early 2018 he was part of the team that set the world best time in the indoor 4 × 400 m relay with a time of 3:00.77. At the time, his relay split time of 44.35 s was the fastest ever recorded in an indoor race. In June of the same year he also helped set the NCAA record in the same event but outdoors, and ran what was at the time the second fastest 400 m hurdles race of all time in 47.02 s.
- ^ a b "Rai Benjamin". eurosport.com. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
- ^ Sully, Kevin (October 4, 2018). "Rai Benjamin Cleared To Compete for the US". milesplit.com. FloSports, Inc. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Lindstrom, Sieg (January 19, 2019). "New Flag, New Beginning for Rai Benjamin". trackandfieldnews.com. Track & Field News. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
- ^ a b Sully, Kevin (June 14, 2018). "Rai Benjamin is Now a Nike Athlete". flotrack.org. FloSports, Inc. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
- ^ Rowbottom, Mike (July 1, 2018). "Norman and Benjamin the latest starts to shine in the IAAF Diamond League". iaaf.org. IAAF. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ Zaccardi, Nick (June 30, 2018). "Abderrahman Samba runs second-fastest 400m hurdles ever (video)". nbcsports.com. NBC. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ "Rai BENJAMIN – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
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