Men's 400 metres hurdles
at the Games of the XXV Olympiad |
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Venue |
Estadi Olímpic de Montjuïc |
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Dates |
3 August 1992 (heats) 5 August 1992 (quarter-finals and semi-finals) 6 August 1992 (final) |
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Competitors |
54 from 35 nations |
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Winning time |
46.78 WR |
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Medalists |
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These are the official results of the men's 400 metres hurdles at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.[1]
The emerging American star Kevin Young was unbeaten prior to the Barcelona Olympics, aside from a marginal loss to Winthrop Graham in the semi final round (Graham running his personal best to date in that effort). Running in lane 4, Young appeared to have the slowest reaction to the gun of the field. To his inside, Graham was the first over the first hurdle. Using a left leg lead, 13 strides to the second hurdle, Young had pulled to just slightly behind Graham. Between the next two hurdles he ran 12 strides, alternating to the right leg lead over the fourth hurdle. Over the fifth hurdle had had made up the stagger on Kriss Akabusi to his outside. Relative to the hurdles, he had clearly passed Graham with the rest of the field clearly a full stride or more behind. Running 13 strides the rest of the way, he passed the rest of the competitors to his outside between the next two hurdles. A one stride lead over Graham at the eight hurdle became two by the ninth as Young was still powerful as Graham was struggling. In the battle for bronze, Stéphane Diagana had a slight lead over Akabusi over the eighth hurdle, but Akabusi clearly broke away between eight and nine, which Diagana struggled to clear. Young tried to maintain his power into the final hurdle though he came up a little short, catching the face of the hurdle with his lead leg heel, riding the hurdle to the ground. He maintained his powerful stride to the finish. Realizing he had the clear victory, Young raised his right arm in celebration 10 meters before the finish, slowing his last four strides. Still, Young crossed the finish line with a new world record, taking almost a quarter of a second out of Edwin Moses' 9-year-old record. Graham held on for second, as Akabusi was unable to make up the gap with Diagana unable to recover the distance he had lost to Akabusi.
Records
These were the standing world and Olympic records (in seconds) prior to the 1992 Summer Olympics.
In the final Kevin Young set a new world record with 46.78.