His expression said it all: Even Karsten Warholm couldn’t believe it after he became the first man to clock under 46 seconds in Tuesday’s Olympic 400-meter hurdles final. The 25-year-old Norwegian’s time of 45.94 slashed his his own mark of 46.70 by almost a second. But it was no one-horse race. Warholm, barely seeming to notice the hurdles in his path, powered to an early lead, but was gradually caught by the slower-starting American Rai Benjamin. The pair were virtually even over the final hurdle, only for Warholm to kick away to the line. Benjamin finished in 46.17, the second-fastest time ever and more than half a second under the previous record.

With his eyes wide open and eyes bulging in disbelief at the clock, Warholm ripped open his own shirt, Superman-style, before crouching down with his head in his hand, trying to comprehend the magnitude of his feat.