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Raajiv Tripathi
DOHA
American legend Edwin Moses' 31-year-old record faces a potent threat from Qatar's 400m hurdle sensation Abderrahman Samba when he takes to the Chrlety Stadium track for his fifth run in the Diamond League on Saturday.
Samba has already lowered the Diamond League mark three times and bettered his personal best this season four times, en route his impressive victories at Doha, Rome, Oslo and Stockholm. Besides, he has twice broken the Asia mark as well.
In five runs from April till now, including four in the Diamond League, Samba began with a world lead of 47.90 in Potchefstroom, clocked 47.57 at the Doha home leg. In Rome, he posted 47.48. His last race was on June 10 at Stockholm, where the Qatari smashed the Diamond League, Asia, Meet and Personal bests with 47.41.
On July 22, 1986, double Olympic and world champion Moses had set the record of 47.66 and it has seen numerous failed tries till now. But it could well be erased on June 30 evening, given the sizzling form of Samba and reigning world champion Karsten Warholm from Norway.
The strong finish kick from the 22-year-old runner, who began his hurdles career as recently as in 2016, has been the talking point on the circuit with his impressive 3-0 score over Warholm till now.
A rich field, led by Warholm, waits again to try and ambush the Qatari again in Paris. The Norwegian will attempt to come out of the towering shadow of Samba on Saturday. Twice he has produced runs of sub-48sec but that has not fetched him any success against Samba. So the fourth clash between the two will be quite interesting to watch.
Also in the fray is the trio of Americans Rio Olympic Games champion Kerron Clement, former world champion and Diamond League record holder Bershawn Jackwon and TJ Holmes, fifth in the 2017 London World Championship.
Keeping in mind the season's best from the Americans, it appears that only Holmes, who has had 48.51 in the USATF Outdoor Championships in Des Moines on June 23, looks like to be putting up some challenge to Samba.
Another runner to catch the eye is Kyron McMaster. The youngster from the British Virgin Islands, who has been improving steadily, won the Commonwealth Games gold medal at Gold Coast, Australia with his personal best of 48.25 in April.
