American Rai Benjamin finally gets gold in the 400-meter hurdles. He beat the world-record holder

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Rai Benjamin, of the United States, celebrates after winning the men’s 400-meter hurdles final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

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Rai Benjamin, of the United States, celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men’s 400 meters hurdles final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

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Rai Benjamin, of the United States, celebrates winning the men’s 400-meter hurdles final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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Alison Dos Santos, of Brazil, celebrates after a bronze medal in the men’s 400-meter hurdles final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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Rai Benjamin, of the United States, wins the men’s 400-meter hurdles past Karsten Warholm, of Norway, at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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Rai Benjamin, of the United States, reacts to winning the men’s 400-meter hurdles final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, in Saint-Denis, France. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

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By ANDREW DAMPF

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Karsten Warholm has the world record. Alison dos Santos had the purple hair to match the purple track.

Rai Benjamin?

The American who had consistently finished behind his Norwegian and Brazilian rivals in the 400-meter hurdles showed he’s got staying power.

And gold now, too.

After three silver medals in the 400-meter hurdles at the Olympics and world championships, Benjamin convincingly beat Warholm and Dos Santos at the Paris Games on Friday.

“I got it done,” the 27-year-old Benjamin said. ”It has eluded me so long. ... I don’t think I ever doubted it. It was more just staying patient and keep showing up every day and something has to shake. I told myself, ‘This has got to go my way at some point.’ And it went my way today.”

Benjamin clocked 46.46 seconds, finishing several strides ahead of Warholm (47.06) and Dos Santos (47.26).

Benjamin flashed a wide grin when he crossed the line and let out a scream while Warholm slammed his hand on track.

“To do it in front of my mom and my dad and my aunts and uncles and my friends from back in L.A.,” Benjamin said. “That one was for them.”

Benjamin trailed Warholm for most of the race, and landed awkwardly coming over the eighth hurdle. But he was able to straighten out his stride and then burst past the Norwegian over the final 100 meters.

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“I just remember freaking landing awkward off seven and then eight came up and I had to reach because I landed so awkward and I was like, ‘Please don’t fall.’ And then I had to reach for 10 and switch legs and at that point I was like, ‘Please don’t get walked,’” Benjamin said. “It wasn’t particularly the quickest but we got it done.”

Benjamin won silver behind Warholm when the Norwegian set the world record at the Tokyo Games three years ago. He also took two silvers and a bronze at the last three world championships. That includes a runner-up finish to Brazil’s Dos Santos on home soil at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, in 2022.

Benjamin said he was hurt when he lost a great race in Tokyo, and also injured in 2022 and 2023.

Not this time.

It was Team USA’s 11th gold medal in track and field of these Summer Games.

Meanwhile, Clement Ducos crossed fourth in 47.76 as host France remained without a medal in athletics at its home games.

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Olympic Hightlights

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FILE - South Africa’s Jacques Freitag competes in the men’s high jump of the 2004 Olympic Games, in the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Friday Aug. 20, 2004. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

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FILE - Ilona Maher of USA is tackled by Sharni Williams of Australia in a semifinal of the Rugby World Cup 7’s championship held in Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. The main task for Maher, the breakout social media star on TikTok at the Tokyo Olympics, is winning a medal in Paris. (AP Photo/Halden Krog, File)

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FILE - Jacques Freitag of South Africa waves his national flag after he won the Men’s high jump event at the World Athletics Championships, at the Stade de France in Saint Denis, north of Paris, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003. Local media is reporting that South African police have discovered the body of former high jump world champion Jacques Freitag after he went missing last month. The reports said the 42-year-old, who won the 2003 world title in Paris and competed at the 2004 Olympics, had been shot. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

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Sammy Sullivan of USA in action during HSBC rugby sevens series in Singapore, on May 4, 2024. The anthem played as Army officer Sammy Sullivan stood to attention and saluted beside her U.S. rugby teammates before a gold-medal game in Hong Kong against Olympic champion New Zealand. No prizes for guessing where her mind may have drifted to: Paris in July. (AP Photo/Suhaimi Abdullah)

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USA Water Polo Women’s Senior National Team attacker Ryann Neushul, left, trains at Long Beach City College Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. Following in the footsteps of two older sisters who won gold with the U.S. women’s water polo team, Ryann Neushul is making her Olympic debut in Paris this summer. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

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Iranian wrestler Iman Mahdavi, 28, practices at the Lotta Club Seggiano gym, in Pioltello , northern Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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FILE - Steven van de Velde of the Netherlands competes during the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Vienna 2022 men’s semifinal game against Austria at the Red Bull Beach Arena in Vienna, Austria, Sunday, Aug. 7, 2022. Van de Velde, convicted and imprisoned eight years ago for raping an underage girl in England has qualified for the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Florian Schroetter, File)