Last month, Warholm broke Kevin Young's 29-year world mark with a time of 46.70 seconds but he blew his own record away in Tokyo on Tuesday with an astonishing 45.94 run.

Benjamin pushed him all the way to take silver in 46.17, also half a second inside the old record.

Brazilian Alison dos Santos got in on the act as well as he took bronze in 46.72, also inside Young's previous best.

One of the most anticipated races on the program more than lived up to the hype.

Six of the eight runners broke either a world, continent or national record.

Warholm tore open his jersey when he crossed the line first. He flashed the same mouth-gaping look of amazement as when he announced himself on the world stage with his victory at world championships in 2017.

The hype for this showdown started building at U.S. Olympic trials in June, when Benjamin became only the fourth man to break 47 seconds with a run of 46.83 and pronounced he thought he had a low-46 in him.

Warholm responded a few weeks later by running his 46.70 which broke the record American Young set at the Barcelona Olympics.

- with The AP

Australian Associated Press