Trevor Bassitt has now reached his first Olympic semifinal in the men’s 400 m hurdles at Paris 2024. He ran 49.38s in round 1 and had to win a repechage heat in 48.64s to stay alive. In the semis, he posted 48.29s but finished fourth in his heat behind Warholm, Ducos, and dos Santos, and narrowly missed the final. He ranked eighth overall, the fastest hurdler eliminated. Well, a year later, another heartbreak for him, just in a different and unfortunate manner.
The 400mH for the USTAF championships heats took place today, and a lot of things unfolded in one race. To start with, Aldrich Bailey and Craig Allen looked into one intense showdown, jumping hurdle after hurdle, not letting the audience know which one of them could just surge ahead and take the win. Ultimately, Allen dove as the two of them neared the finish line, but Bailey had already taken the win in 49.00 seconds, 4 hundredths ahead of Allen. But that’s not what the headlines are about.
Jarrett Gentles had entered the race after making some sensation in the season. Back in May, his 49.78 in the NCAA broke the Coppin State men’s record in the 400 m hurdles, previously unchallenged for over two decades. Coming back to the heats of the 400 m H, he was running fairly well. First hurdle? Jumped. Second? Not a problem. Third, fourth, fifth… eighth? He jumped all of them. But then.
On the ninth hurdle, he jumped, but it wasn’t high enough. Gentles crashed into the hurdle and fell on the track. Unfortunately, Trevor Bassitt, who was just behind him, on the very track next to him, found himself facing an extra hurdle in the form of Jarrett. He had to jump over him. This, in turn, caused the Olympian to slow down. He finished 7th with a time of 52.14 seconds, while Gentles crossed the line in 2.33 seconds short of a minute.
Aldrich Bailey beats C. Allen to win the second semifinal of the 400mh at US Championship in 49.00s. Trevor Bassit did not make the final pic.twitter.com/ptaPjeI2M2
— Darknight (@MOON_WALKER6) August 2, 2025
After the race, Bassitt did appear in an interview, and no, he did not blame Gentles for his loss in any way. Moreover, he confessed to his health, an injury that he had been facing, and how he felt about the loss.
Trevor Bassitt does not blame Gentles for his loss
“Thursday, the week after Prefontaine was doing a race model session. Went over hurdle six, my leg locked up, got an MRI on it, and found out we had a partial tear. Um, talked to the doctors about it,” Bassitt said in the post-race interview today, informing of a hamstring injury. He also said that the doctors gave him zero chances to be there at the championships. Ignoring those words, he thought of hammering it, praying to God for supernatural healing. He had also made an Instagram post today where he talked about the same things.
The Olympian also informed that he was able to jump over the hurdles on Wednesday. But then at the USAs, it did not cooperate. He further told, “Came out here today, came off hurdle one, it felt good, went to pick up speed, and it just like tightened up on me, and it just wouldn’t let me go any faster. And then being out of training for 3 weeks, it’s not like I had my usual fitness to try to come back. So, like I’m really disappointed in the result.” Though he does not blame his injury.
Bassitt confessed that he wouldn’t have competed if he hadn’t believed he was ready to win or make the team. Though disappointed, he’s proud of his resilience, acknowledging that injuries are part of the sport, and this time, it was his turn. He was asked if we would protest for what happened between him and Gentles, but he denied saying that he was already 7th, and there was no point. What are your thoughts?
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