Alison Dos Santos, the Brazilian phenomenon who aroused amazement at the World Athletics Championships

the Brazilian Alison Brendom Alves dos Santos He has just completed one of the greatest feats in track and field history in his country – and in all of South America – conquering the 400m hurdles in the Eugene / Oregon World Championshipthis Tuesday 19 August with a simply amazing score: 46 seconds and 29 cents.

Alison not only broke her South American record – she was 46.72 from the Tokyo Olympics – and the championship record, but she became the first Brazilian to win a men’s world title outdoors and the 14th of a South American athlete in the history of these competitions. In the days before, to Eugenio, the Peruvian Kimberley Garcia in the march of 20 kilometers and the Venezuelan Yulimar of the Red Valley in the women’s triple jump (three times champions) they had also established themselves at world level.

Speaking of Alison, with her just turning 22, it enters another dimension from the level of its signs.

He had already “warned” of his formidable conditions during the 2019 season, before the pandemic paralyzed athletic activity. And in one of the most technical, most complicated and most demanding programming tests, where the times of the obstacle course must be harmonized with extreme speed, Alison showed incredible consistency, versatility and champion mentality.

The Tokyo Olympic final nearly a year ago was the largest in history. It should be remembered that the world record, set by the American Kevin Young with 46s78 at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, had remained untouchable for nearly three decades. Until the appearance of the Norwegian Karsten Warholm – world champion in Doha 2019 – who managed to break it shortly before the Tokyo event, scoring 46.70 in his reduced in Oslo. And at the Olympics the show of the hurdlers was majestic: 45s.94 for Warholm (the first man to break the 46 second barrier, considered inaccessible for many generations), 46s.19 for his escort, the American Rai Benjamin and 46s72 for Alison.

It seemed that the bar was too high for everyone, but the truth is that in this season of 2022, Alison proved that her progression was limitless. He was unbeatable around the circuit and came to Eugene as a favorite. Warholm, on the other hand, suffered an injury on his first seasonal appearance in Rabat six weeks ago and his World Cup status was unknown.

As it turned out, finally, he had not recovered and, despite having made it to the final, he finished seventh with 48s. 42 Alison was a great champion with 46s29 and Rai Benjamin, a native of New York, but he trained in the sports on the island of Antigua – back in second place, now with 46s89, taking another American, Trevor Bassitt with 47s39, to bronze.

The signs of an accident

Alison was born on June 3, 2000 and at the age of ten months she suffered a serious accident: the contents of a frying pan her grandmother handled spilled on her, she suffered third degree burns and spent four months in the hospital. Barretos. Her scars are still visible on her forehead, face, chest and left arm, so she wears hats to protect her sensitive skin from the sun.

His first sport was judo, but at the age of thirteen he started practicing athletics at the Pedro Badran Technical School in his hometown of São Joaquim da Barra. And there his teacher advised him to train at the Institute led by the former sprinter and Olympic medalist in the relay, Edson Luciano Ribeiro.

“When I saw him, training on a dirt track, I thought he was very good, because of his height, his coordination and his speed,” said his first coach, Ana Claudia Fidelis. Currently their campaign is led by Felipe Siqueira and they usually hold their preparatory “campgrounds” at the United States Olympic Center in Chula Vista, California.

These days Brazil is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its first Olympic medals, the one won by the great Adhemar Ferreira da Silva (triple jump champion) and José Telles da Conceicao (high jump bronze) at the Helsinki Olympic Games in 1952. .

In the tradition of those greats, and those who have continued such as Joaquim Cruz, Robson da Silva, Maurren Maggi and many other champions, now is the time for this athletic prodigy named Alison Brendom Alves dos Santos.