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Mount Vernon's own Rai Benjamin won gold in the men's 400-meter hurdles on Friday, Aug. 9, in front of his friends and family, upgrading the silver medal he won for the same race at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The 27-year-old champion clinched the gold medal after finishing the event in 46.46 seconds, beating Norway's Karsten Warholm, who took silver, and Brazil's Alison dos Santos, who took bronze.
During those intense 46 seconds, Benjamin, a Mount Vernon High School graduate, leaped over 10 hurdles evenly spaced around the track.
His gold medal win prompted reactions from those in his home city, including Mount Vernon Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard, who congratulated Benjamin on her social media page.
Patterson-Howard wrote, "We are so proud of you and have some exciting things that await you when you get home."
As for what these "exciting things" are, a comment left by Patterson-Howard on Benjamin's official Facebook fan page sheds some more light on the subject:
"Time for a Parade and Much More!" Patterson-Howard commented.
In an interview given to the official Olympics website, Benjamin said his gold medal win "happened at the right moment."
"My family is here, my friends are here. To do it in front of them means so much to me," Benjamin said, adding, "This one, they can't take away from me, at all. Mostly for me, this is about proving myself right."
In addition to this win, Benjamin also holds a gold medal for the men's 4 x 400m relay and a silver medal for the men's 400m hurdles, both of which were won during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
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