Alison dos Santos

Alison Brendom Alves dos Santos is a Brazilian hurdler and sprinter specialising in the 400 metres hurdles. Competing in the 400 metres hurdles, he is the 2022 World Champion and won the bronze medal at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Olympics. On 27 August 2026, dos Santos broke the world record in the event with a time of 45.80 seconds.

In addition to his world record, dos Santos holds the South American under-20 record in the 400 metres hurdles and the world best in the rarely run 200 metres hurdles. A gold medalist at the Pan American Games and South American Championships in 2019, he was also the 2022 and 2024 Diamond League champion.

Early life Dos Santos was born on 3 June 2000 in São Joaquim da Barra, São Paulo, Brazil, to father Gerson and mother Sueli. Dos Santos has three sisters named Drieli, Andrieli, and Anieli. His parents later separated.

At 10 months old, while spending time at his grandparents' home, dos Santos suffered third-degree burns after accidentally tipping over a pan of hot oil, which his grandmother prepared to fry fish; she also suffered severe burns when trying to intervene. Dos Santos was rushed to hospital by his grandfather, where he would stay for the next four months. The incident left him with visible scars on his forehead, scalp, face, chest, and left arm. He wears a cap or hat on his head during training to protect the area from the sun.

Dos Santos was shy growing up, partly due to his scars, and stayed in his room alone until he started to become involved in sports. As a child, he practised judo from age six to fourteen. Although he loved judo, the high cost associated with each training session caused him to abandon it. A childhood friend soon convinced him to switch to athletics. Dos Santos earned the nickname "Piu" early in his career. Explaining the nickname's origin, he recounted joining a local athletics project one week after the departure of a different athlete. This athlete resembled a homeless man named Piu known to people in São Joaquim da Barra, so teammates jokingly decided to call dos Santos by the same name.

Career

2017 Dos Santos competed at the 2017 IAAF World U18 Championships in the 400 metres hurdles, finishing fifth in the final.

2018 Dos Santos won a bronze medal at the 2018 World U20 Championships in the 400 m hurdles with a time of 49.78 seconds, a personal best at the time.

2019 At just 19 years old, he participated in the 2019 Pan American Games, held in Lima, Peru, where he won the 400 m hurdles event, breaking the South American under-20 record with a time of 48.45. It was the fourth best time in the world at that moment, and with that, dos Santos qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He had already won gold in the same event, at the 2019 Summer Universiade, weeks before.

In September 2019, dos Santos went to the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, where he won the 400 m hurdles semifinal in 48.35, breaking his personal record again and going to the final with the second best overall time. The last time a Brazilian had reached the final of this event in the Worlds was with Eronilde de Araújo, in 1999. In the final, he broke his personal record again, finishing in seventh place with a time of 48.28.

2021 In April 2021, he broke his own Brazilian record again with a time of 48.15 in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. On 9 May 2021, he broke the South American record that had belonged to Panama's Bayano Kamani (47.84) since 2005. Dos Santos obtained the 47.68 mark in the Mt.Sac stage of the Continental Athletics Tour in California. On 28 May 2021, he again broke the South American record with a time of 47.57 in Doha, participating in the 2021 Diamond League. This time placed him as third in the world ranking. He even topped the list in April. The time of 47.57 already placed him as 22nd best runner in the race of all time. On 1 July 2021, in the Oslo stage of the Diamond League, he again lowered his own South American record, with a time of 47.38. This time placed him as the 15th-best runner in the history of the race. He improved this record with 47.34, three days later, winning in Stockholm.

At the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, dos Santos qualified for the final of the 400 metres hurdles, breaking the South American record with a time of 47.31. In the final, he won the bronze medal, breaking the South American record again by a large margin, with a time of 46.72, lowering his time by 0.6 seconds. The race was the strongest in 400 m hurdles history, with the three medalists—Karsten Warholm, Rai Benjamin and dos Santos—running the three best times in the history of the event, all beating Kevin Young's old world record which had lasted almost 30 years and had only fallen a month before the Olympics. Dos Santos became the third best in the history of the race at just 21 years old.

2022

In April 2022, he made the second best Brazilian mark in history in the 400 m with a time of 44.54 seconds. In May 2022, he won a gold medal in the Doha stage of the Diamond League with a time of 47.24, defeating Rai Benjamin. In June 2022, he won a gold medal in the Stockholm stage of the Diamond League with a time of 46.80.

On 19 July 2022, in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, he broke the South American record again and the World Championship record in the 400 metres hurdles with a time of 46.29, becoming the world champion, defeating Warholm and Benjamin. It was the first men's gold in the history of Brazil in the World Athletics Championships, and he became only the second Brazilian in history to be the world champion in outdoor athletics, the first being the pole vaulter Fabiana Murer eleven years earlier in Daegu, South Korea. Dos Santos was 0.13s from breaking Benjamin's Americas record and 0.36s from breaking Warholm's world record. At the Diamond Race final in Zürich in September, he became the Diamond League champion in his specialist event. His recovery period was expected to last between 8 and 12 weeks. He came back on 16 July 2023, with his first race of the season being the Silesia stage of the Diamond League. He ran in the 400 m and finished in third place with a time of 44.73. Close to a week after, he improved upon this when he ran the 400 m hurdles in the Monaco stage of the Diamond League and finished in second place on 21 July 2023. Next, the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary followed in August. He won his 400 metres hurdles heat in 48.12 to qualify for the semifinal where he finished second with a time of 47.38. During the final, he hit two barriers (in the eighth and tenth) and finished in fifth place with a time of 48.10. He asked to be exempt from the 2023 Pan American Games so as not to jeopardize his preparation for the Olympics.

2024 On 10 May, at the Doha Stage of the 2024 Diamond League, he crossed the finish line with a time of 46.86 and took 1st place, breaking the league record.

On 31 May, at the Oslo stage of the Diamond League, he defeated Warholm within his own country and took the lead in the 400 m hurdles ranking for the year, with a time of 46.63.

He won the bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics with a time of 47.26 to finish behind Benjamin and Warholm.

In September 2024, it was announced that he had signed up for the inaugural season of the Michael Johnson founded Grand Slam Track.

2025 Dos Santos was crowned the Grand Slam champion in the "long hurdles" race group at the league's first two meets in Kingston and Miami. On 17 May 2025, dos Santos set a new world best time of 21.85 seconds in the rarely run 200 metres hurdles. At the Philadelphia Slam, he finished second in his race group behind Trevor Bassitt.

Following victory at the Prefontaine Classic in July, dos Santos won the 400 metres hurdles silver medal at the 2025 World Athletics Championships, running 46.84 to finish second behind Benjamin.

2026

Dos Santos opened his 2026 season in Gainesville, Florida, where he set new personal bests in the 200 metres and the 400 metres, almost breaking the Brazilian record in the latter event. At the 2026 Shanghai Diamond League, he beat Warholm on his way to setting another personal best, this time in the 300 metres hurdles.

On 27 August 2026, at the Zürich Diamond League, dos Santos broke the 400 metres hurdles world record with a time of 45.80 seconds, ahead of the previous record holder, Warholm. Dos Santos became the second man to run under 46 seconds in the event. It was one of two world records achieved in Zürich, with Masai Russell breaking the 100 metres hurdles record later in the meet. Reflecting on his strong season, dos Santos noted that tactical changes in training allowed him to execute his race plan and break the world record. "I felt like [I could break the world record] throughout the whole season. Today I was able to execute," dos Santos said, explaining that "I’m starting faster, I’m finishing stronger, and that is what I had to do to break a world record."

Achievements Information taken from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

Personal bests + Personal best times of Alison dos Santos Event Location Date Record Notes 200 metres 20.39 Gainesville, Florida, U.S. 17 April 2026 (Wind: +0.7 m/s) 400 metres 44.38 Gainesville, Florida, U.S. 18 April 2026 200 metres hurdles straight 21.85 Atlanta, U.S. 17 May 2025 (Wind: +1.5 m/s) 300 metres hurdles 33.01 Shaoxing, China 16 May 2026 400 metres hurdles 45.80 Zürich, Switzerland 27 August 2026 400 metres hurdles (84.0cm) 52.45 Bragança Paulista, Brazil 25 June 2017 4 × 400 metres relay 3:02.99 Gainesville, Florida, U.S. 30 March 2024 Mixed 4 × 400 metres relay 3:16.53 Chorzów, Poland 1 May 2021

International competitions

Circuit performances Diamond League 400 metres hurdles champion (2): 2022, 2024 400 metres hurdles wins, other events specified in parentheses: 2021 (2): Stockholm Bauhausgalan , Brussels Memorial Van Damme 2022 (7): Doha Diamond League , Eugene Prefontaine Classic , Oslo Bislett Games, Stockholm , Chorzów Kamila Skolimowska Memorial , Brussels, Zürich Weltklasse 2024 (6): Doha , Oslo , Stockholm, Meeting de Paris, London Athletics Meet, Brussels 2025 (1): Eugene 2026 (6): Shanghai Diamond League (300 metres hurdles; ), Xiamen Diamond League , Stockholm, Oslo, Chorzów , Zürich