Warholm’s rival sent a scare in the season opener

Sport: Benjamin, who is the reigning Olympic silver medalist in the 400-meter hurdles, ran the 400-meter flat during a national meet in the United States on Saturday. He clocked in at a solid time of 44.42 seconds.

Benjamin, who will challenge Karsten Warholm during the Paris Olympics, won easily. The time is only three hundredths behind the Norwegian record of Håvard Bentdal Ingvaldsen for the distance.

Also participating in Saturday’s event was another American star, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. The world record holder and Olympic champion in the women’s 400m hurdles was back on the track for the first time since last July.

She had to withdraw from last year’s WC in Budapest as a result of an injury.

McLaughlin-Levrone competed in a 4 x 100 meter relay in Los Angeles. Her team finished second with a time of 42.92 seconds, behind an international quartet led by Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith (42.03).

(© NTB)