Rai Benjamin
2018) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Rai Benjamin (born July 27, 1997)
In college, Benjamin ran for the
Early life and career
Rai Benjamin, from Mount Vernon High School (New York), just after completing his second year participated at the 2013 World Youth Championships held in Donetsk, Ukraine. He wanted to run for the USA, since he was born in New York,[8] but in Donetsk he represented Antigua and Barbuda in the 400 m hurdles.[9]
He won the 2015 New York Indoor State meet with a national-leading time of 33.17 in the 300 meters. He was a three-time
In 2017, the IAAF suspended all transfers of allegiance, meaning Benjamin could not represent the United States until transfers were reinstated in summer 2018.[11] In October 2018, Benjamin's transfer request was approved, allowing him to represent the United States abroad and compete in USATF Championship events.[2]
At the 2018
At the 2019 Mt. SAC Relays, that year at El Camino College in Torrance, California, Benjamin joined his training partner and previous college teammate, Michael Norman running the 400 meters. Benjamin ran his personal best of 44.31, the 50th best time in history[14] behind Norman's 43.45, which turned out to be the fastest 400 run in the 2019 season and tied him as the 4th fastest of all time.[15]
Personal life
Benjamin is the son of West Indies international and Antiguan cricketer Winston Benjamin.[8][16]
Achievements
Information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.[7]
Personal bests
Surface | Event | Time | Venue | Date | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Outdoor | 400 m hurdles | 46.17 | Tokyo, Japan | August 3, 2021 | North American record, 2nd all time |
400 m | 44.21 | Los Angeles, CA, United States | April 8, 2023 | ||
200 m | 19.99 | Paris, France | June 30, 2018 | (−0.6 m/s wind) | |
100 m | 10.03 | Fort Worth, TX, United States | July 20, 2020 | (+1.6 m/s wind) | |
4 × 400 m relay | 2:55.70 | Tokyo, Japan | August 7, 2021 | 2021 world lead | |
Indoor | 400 m | 45.39 | New York, NY, United States | February 13, 2021 | |
300 m | 32.35 | New York, NY, United States | February 8, 2020 | ||
200 m | 20.34 | College Station, TX, United States | March 10, 2018 | NR[note 1] | |
4 × 400 m relay | 3:00.77 | College Station, TX, United States | March 10, 2018 | World best[note 2] |
International competitions
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing Antigua and Barbuda | ||||||
2013 | World Youth Championships | Donetsk, Ukraine | 15th | 400 m hurdles | 52.36 | |
2015 | CARIFTA Games (U20) | Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis | 2nd | 400 m | 46.19 | PB |
World Relays | Nassau, Bahamas | – (h) | 4 × 200 m relay | DNF | ||
Representing the United States | ||||||
2019 | World Championships | Doha, Qatar | 2nd | 400 m hurdles | 47.66 | |
1st | 4 × 400 m relay | 2:56.69 | WL PB | |||
2021 | Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan |
2nd | 400 m hurdles | 46.17 | PB AR, 2nd all time |
1st | 4 x 400 m relay | 2:55.70 | SB | |||
2022 | World Championships | Eugene, OR, United States | 2nd | 400 m hurdles | 46.89 | |
2023 | World Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 3rd | 400 m hurdles | 47.56 | |
1st | 4 x 400 m relay | 2:57.31 | WL |
Circuit wins
- Diamond League (400 m hurdles)
- World Indoor Tour
- Boston: 2019 (300 m)
National championships
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | NCAA Division I Championships | Eugene, Oregon | 6th | 400 m hurdles | 49.82 | PB |
2017 | NCAA Division I Championships | Eugene, Oregon | 2nd | 400 m hurdles | 48.33 | PB |
22nd | 4 × 100 m relay | 39.89 | ||||
2018 | NCAA Division I Indoor Championships | College Station, Texas | 3rd | 200 m | 20.34 | PB |
1st | 4 × 400 m relay | 3:00.77 | WB[note 2] | |||
NCAA Division I Championships | Eugene, Oregon | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 47.02 | WL PB CR[8] | |
1st | 4 × 400 m relay | 2:59.00 | PB CR | |||
2019 | USATF Championships | Des Moines, Iowa | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 47.23 | |
2021 | U.S. Olympic Trials |
Eugene, Oregon | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 46.83 | WL PB MR, 3rd all time |
2022 | USATF Championships | Eugene, Oregon | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 47.04 |
Seasonal bests
Year | 400 m hurdles | 400 m | 200 m |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | 53.95 | 49.55 | 22.38 |
2014 | 51.86 | 47.17 | 20.88 |
2015 | 49.97 | 46.19 | 21.09 |
2016 | 49.82 | 47.57 | 21.17 |
2017 | 48.33 | 45.72 | 20.64 |
2018 | 47.02 | 44.74 | 19.99 |
2019 | 46.98 | 44.31 | — |
2020 | — | ||
2021 | 46.17 | 44.97 | 20.16 |
2022 | 46.89 | — | 20.01 |
College career
Benjamin is a three-time NCAA Division I track champion. As a college student-athlete, Benjamin earned three Pac-12 conference titles, one Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title, and eight NCAA Division I All-America honors (five outdoor, three indoor).
Benjamin's All-America honors were for these accomplishments:
- 2016 indoor, as part of a seventh-place team finish in the indoors distance medley relay, with a time of 9:34.9.
- 2016 outdoor, for a sixth-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles in 49.82.
- 2017 outdoor, for a second-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles in 48.33, and as part of a team finish of 39.89 in the 4x100m relay.
- 2018 indoor, for a third-place finish in the 200m, and as part of a team that set a college indoor track record of 3:00.77 in the 4x400m relay.
- 2018 outdoor, as part of a team that won the 4x400m relay in 2:59.00, and for a college record time of 47.02 in the 400m hurdles. His time equalled Edwin Moses's for the second fastest time in history.
Year | Indoor track and field |
Indoor |
Outdoor |
Outdoor track and field
|
---|---|---|---|---|
Representing the | ||||
2018 | 200 m 3rd 20.34 |
400 m hurdles 1st 48.46 |
400 m hurdles 1st 47.02 CR | |
400 m 1st 45.94 |
4 x 400 m relay 1st 3:00.77 CR |
4 x 100 m relay 1st 39.38 |
4 x 400 m relay 1st 2:59.00 | |
2017 | 4 x 400 m relay 5th 3:12.50 |
4 x 400 m relay 4th 3:09.39 |
4 x 100 m relay 22nd 39.89 | |
400 6th 47.06 |
400 m hurdles 1st 49.52 |
400 m hurdles 2nd 48.33 | ||
200 m 3rd 21.09 |
||||
Representing the | ||||
2016 | 400 m 7th 47.57 |
400 m hurdles 52.21 |
400 m hurdles 6th 49.82 | |
DMR 7th 9:34.39 |
4 x 100 m relay 4th 40.22 |
Notes
- ^ a b For Antigua and Barbuda
- ^ a b Shared with Zach Shinnick, Ricky Morgan, and Michael Norman for the USC Trojans. Because Rai Benjamin was not cleared to represent the United States with his American teammates until after the race, the time was not recognized by the World Athletics as the official world record.[17]
References
- ^ a b "Rai Benjamin". eurosport.com. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ IAAF. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ a b Zaccardi, Nick (June 30, 2018). "Abderrahman Samba runs second-fastest 400m hurdles ever (video)". nbcsports.com. NBC. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ a b "Rai BENJAMIN – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
- ^ a b c Burke, Timothy (June 8, 2018). "Rai Benjamin Runs 47.02 400m Hurdles, Tied For Second-Fastest in Human History". deadspin.com. Deadspin. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
- ^ "400m hurdles (84.0 cm) Boys semi-final results".
- ^ track ucla mount vernon rai benjamin
- ^ "Transfer of Allegiance".
- ^ "2018 Paris Diamond League 200 m". Archived from the original on July 2, 2018. Retrieved July 1, 2018.
- ^ "200 Metres - men - senior - outdoor".
- ^ "400 Metres - men - senior - outdoor".
- ^ "400 Metres - men - senior - outdoor".
- ^ Levy, Leighton (October 4, 2018). "Antiguan star athlete Rai Benjamin switches allegiance to USA". sportsmax.tv. SportsMaxTV. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ^ Joe Fleming (March 12, 2018). "World, collegiate records highlight NCAA indoor track and field championships". usatoday.com. USA Today. Retrieved October 9, 2019.
- ^ "RAI BENJAMIN UCLA". tfrrs.org. Track & Field Results Reporting System. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
- ^ "RAI BENJAMIN USC". tfrrs.org. Track & Field Results Reporting System. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
- ^ "Rai Benjamin at USC". Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS). Retrieved June 30, 2018.
- ^ Rai Benjamin USC profile University of Southern California. June 30, 2018
- ^ Rai Benjamin UCLA track results TFRRS. June 30, 2018
- University of California Los Angeles. June 30, 2018
External links
- Rai Benjamin at World Athletics
- Rai Benjamin profile at TFRRS (USC)
- Rai Benjamin profile at TFRRS (UCLA)
- Rai Benjamin bio at USC Trojans
- Rai Benjamin bio at UCLA Bruins
- Rai Benjamin on Twitter
Videos
- Michael Norman and Rai Benjamin at Mt SAC Relays 2019 via MyStyle Records on YouTube
- Michael Norman 19.84 Wins Men's 200m – IAAF Diamond League Paris 2018 via IAAF Diamond League on YouTube(Rai Benjamin 2nd in 19.99)