{"id":3534,"date":"2026-04-23T20:29:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/the-unexpected-duel-bengtstrom-vs-rai-benjamin-over-400-meters\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:31:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:31:54","slug":"the-unexpected-duel-bengtstrom-vs-rai-benjamin-over-400-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/the-unexpected-duel-bengtstrom-vs-rai-benjamin-over-400-meters\/","title":{"rendered":"The unexpected duel: Bengtstr\u00f6m vs. Rai Benjamin over 400 meters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Carl Bengtstr\u00f6m faces the toughest possible opposition as he swaps hurdles for the flat 400 meters at the BAUHAUS-galan. He will go head-to-head with Rai Benjamin, one of the greatest 400m hurdlers of all time, who has recently decided to focus on the flat 400 meters.<br\/>\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to opening the Diamond League season in Stockholm,\u201d says Benjamin.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>Bengtstr\u00f6m, who took bronze in the 400m hurdles at the 2024 European Championships in Rome, is gearing up for a new championship season. The hurdle specialist occasionally switches to the flat distance\u2014but usually indoors, where he has actually won two international medals (one World Indoor and one European Indoor bronze).  <\/p>\n\n<p>Now, however, the Swede is set to run the 400 meters in the Diamond League for the first time\u2014and it\u2019s no ordinary field he\u2019ll be facing. <\/p>\n\n<p>We\u2019re in for an exceptionally strong American lineup. Benjamin, the reigning Olympic and World Champion in the 400m hurdles, is also switching to the flat distance. After winning World Championship gold in 2025, he announced his intention to focus on the 400 meters. This will be his first Diamond League race in the event since 2019\u2014also in Stockholm. Benjamin has enjoyed major success globally as part of 4\u00d7400m relay teams and holds a personal best of 44.21. Bengtstr\u00f6m\u2019s outdoor PB is 45.38, set at last year\u2019s European Team Championships.    <\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be incredibly inspiring to step over to the flat 400 meters and see how I measure up against some of the fastest in the world!\u201d says Bengtstr\u00f6m.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always enjoyed competing at the BAUHAUS-galan in Stockholm. Last year the stadium had an incredible atmosphere. I\u2019m looking forward to opening the Diamond League season there over 400 meters,\u201d says Benjamin.<\/p>\n\n<p>More big American names will also be on the start line. Jacory Patterson, who won last year\u2019s Diamond League final in the 400 meters, will make his BAUHAUS-galan debut. The world number three has a personal best of 43.85. Also competing is Vernon Norwood, a multiple global gold medalist in the 4\u00d7400m relay.   <\/p>\n\n<p>Additionally, Britain\u2019s Matthew Hudson-Smith is confirmed for the race. He has both Olympic and World Championship silver medals and holds the European record of 43.44. Jereem Richards is also confirmed; he won silver at the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo with a PB of 43.72.   <\/p>\n\n<p>BAUHAUS-galan takes place on 7 June at Stockholm Olympic Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carl Bengtstr\u00f6m faces the toughest possible opposition as he swaps hurdles for the flat 400...","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":3532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-3534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stockholm-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3535,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions\/3535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3534"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stockholm.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=3534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}