Alison dos Santos Breaks MR in Dominant Diamond League Final Victory | 2026 Brussels Diamond League Post-Race Interview
Fresh off securing the Men's 400m Hurdles Diamond League Title in Brussels with a blazing 46.70 meeting record, Alison dos Santos breaks down his dominant end-of-season performance. Dos Santos details how he built front-running dominance into his race strategy this year, how he manages elite execution even when making mistakes, and how he successfully balanced celebrating a recent world record with staying locked into business. He also touches on drawing daily training energy from teammates, the lingering 2021 frustrations that fueled his work ethic, and his upcoming goals to drop a 43-second flat time.
Video Transcript
So just excited and happy to be able to run fast and execute properly, and just if I do everything right, gonna be able to run 46.
When I do something wrong, I'm still running 46.
So I'm just, I'm just happy and excited.
Your run in the 400 flat was also very good.
Yeah, we're improving that.
You know, we're like 44:03 this season.
I'm looking like maybe run 43 at the, at the end of the season, gonna be doing some flats.
But just enjoying and as- actually like trying to do some different stuff this season to just get better for next year.
Alison, your margin of victory was so large.
Can you just talk about the dominance that you had this season?
That's the, that's, that's something like we were trying to create since the beginning of the season, to be able to be dominant.
You know, just like go out there and run fast and like lead the race, not wait someone to do anything.
Just like be able to do our own race no matter the condition, and I think we are able to execute that.
I was able to like, any, any kind of race, I was able to do today.
To get on my race fast and finish strong, so I'm happy with that and excited to what I can do in the meet.
Alison, can you tell us why you decided to race this instead of the flat 200, which is what you ran last month at the Diamond League meet in Paris?
Oh.
I think like we have so many athletes doing crazy things right now.
Like we've seen Coleman.
We've seen like Dream running 43 again, yesterday.
And we take inspiration from them, you know, because we share a track, me and Dream.
I see that he training every day, and like just see like the devotion, how he like delivers is amazing.
So I try to have people around me that gonna motivate me to do better, to be better, not just as an athlete, but also as a person.
Alison, you seem, you seem to have enjoyed yourself a lot after your world record.
You were out there I think in the stadium till 4:00 AM in Zurich.
Shh.
I don't know what you're talking about.
I don't If, if you have video maybe I was there.
If you don't, I wasn't there.
I, I saw you having a lot of fun in Bellinzona as well.
Like you just came for the vibes and just to see the kids and everything.
So, you know, obviously you were still, after all of that celebration, you managed to put together a really amazing 46-second performance today.
So, you know, how has it been over the last few days in kind of absorbing that world record, and how have you managed to pull out the amazing performance today as well?
I think there's a vibe, you know.
After the world record, I need to find a common ground that like I need to celebrate.
You know, it's not every day that you're gonna break a world record.
So I need to celebrate that.
I was like in Zurich with my group, we just like, you know, having fun, talking, enjoying the moment.
I went to Bellinzona as well to like, you know, share this moment with them 'cause I love them and like I feel loved over there as well.
But I also need to remember that like we're still in business.
You know, still have things to do.
I have the trophy to win, and I've just done it.
I want to be the Eugene meet champion, so I have two more races to do in the hurdles over there.
So I did celebrate, but I also keep my both feet on the ground and understand that the season's still on, there's still have things to do, and we want, and we want to run faster.
Alison, you just mentioned Dream, and obviously you broke the world record.
Dream broke his own national record.
What's going right in your training right now?
You know, we're running fast.
We're delivering, you know.
I think as I was saying, like we, we able to share some session.
We able to like, you know, share some conversation, and you get motivation from other people.
You know, when you see someone that like you see every day training, like breaking the world record, running 43, you say like, "Okay, cool.
I got the energy," you know.
I remember watching him in Tokyo last year getting the medal from lane two.
I was like, "Yo, boy, I got this as well," you know.
Like tomorrow I'm gonna be running.
I got the energy from him.
I was able to get a medal as well.
So I think we just like share the energy.
We able to motivate each other.
Alison, yeah, what was it like to walk over as the world record holder for the first time?
What does it feel like?
It felt, it felt really, really good.
Not gonna lie 'cause I remember in 2021 that I run faster than the previous world record, but I was third.
I was pissed.
I was happy, but pissed.
Like yo, come on.
I really gonna break a world record and be third, not even second?
So I was like, "I gonna work as hard as I can to run a really, really good fast time, break a world record again, and make sure I gonna be the first one to cross the line."
So when I step out today, I was able to like just feel like some relief.
It's like, okay, cool.
Now we are the world record holder.
Like we know we have that, and I'm just happy and excited to see what I can produce in Eugene.
Were you surprised by his withdrawal from today?
What do you think is going on there?
Yeah, I, I can respond for my own actions.
You know, I was here.
I was ready to run.
I was ready to fight for the trophy.
He make his own choice.
He's not here, so I can't, I can't answer for him.
Thank you.
Oh, thank you.
