Brazilian Alison dos Santos knew something special was in the cards. So he pleaded with his longtime coach, Felipe de Siqueira, to watch his race in Zurich two weeks ago inside the stadium.
“He hates to go to the stadium to watch because once we’re there, he can’t do anything,” dos Santos told NBC Sports’ Lewis Johnson. “So I was like, ‘Yo, coach, just go to the stadium today. You’re going to enjoy what is about to happen.’ Because I knew I was ready. I knew I was ready to do something good and run some crazy time.”
Dos Santos delivered. He won in 45.80 seconds, breaking Norwegian Karsten Warholm’s world record of 45.94.
Dos Santos went looking for his coach. When he found him, Siqueira was in tears.
“You don’t have to say anything,” dos Santos said this week, reflecting. “Just give me a hug, and we’re just crying together and celebrating because we’re both working towards that. It’s my face down there, but it’s his life.”
Dos Santos first linked up with Siqueira nine years ago, according to Globo, when he moved from his native São Joaquim da Barra to São Paulo and then began flourishing on the track.
He won Olympic bronze medals in 2021 and 2024 behind rivals Warholm and American Rai Benjamin.
And while dos Santos did win the 2022 World title, he never dominated the event until this season: seven wins in seven meets going into this weekend’s World Athletics Ultimate Championship.
In Budapest, the dos Santos, Warholm and Benjamin are slated to go head-to-head-to-head for the first time in 2026 after Benjamin spent the season focused on the flat 400m.
“Of course, I’m thinking about breaking the record again,” dos Santos said. “That’s what I’m aiming for.”
With or without another record, dos Santos can stake a strong claim for another honor: World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year, which no South American has ever won.
He can take the celebration back to Clermont, Florida, where he now trains under Siqueira.
“There’s a bunch of people putting their life into this,” dos Santos said. “I have my physio. I have my my coach. I have my mom, my family, everybody that’s working. It’s different to what we’re doing over there. So we need to share this moment with them as well.”
