Olympic 400m hurdles champion Kerron Clement casts his mind back 14 years to this image of him and the world U20 record-breaking US 4x400m quartet at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy.
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Back in 2004 I was a rebel who just ran because I loved to run track. Back then I never thought about breaking records &ndash; it just happened.
&ldquo;Leading into the World Junior Championships, which was my first international event, I had enjoyed a fantastic year and my expectation was to win the 400m hurdles. It was a tough field. I was up against the defending champion LJ Van Zyl as well as my countryman and fellow 4x400m member Brandon Johnson. I set my goals, executed my race plan and came away with the gold medal in a championship record (of 48.51).
&ldquo;Leading into the men&rsquo;s 4x400m, I felt relaxed. We had a strong (4x400m) squad, which also included the 400m flat champion in Grosseto, LaShawn Merritt. The talk before the race was that we could go for the world junior record of 3:01.90, and our feeling was &lsquo;let&rsquo;s do this&rsquo;.
&ldquo;During the race, we put all our personal rivalries aside. We were representing the US, we had to be friends and I think the time we managed to achieve reflected that.
&ldquo;I ran anchor (after the legs of Johnson, Merritt and Jason Craig) and I had to remember to think of the race as a time trial and that I was running against the clock. I recall looking at the clock in those last 100 metres, and digging as deep as possible.
&ldquo;It was a great achievement to set the world U20 record of 3:01.09. It was special to accomplish a world record as part of a team and for it to still stand today as the championship record is amazing.
&ldquo;I also recall Michelle Carter was part of that US team. We had known each other since high school as we are both from Texas, but I really got to know her well that trip and we became best friends. We are very different personalities &ndash; but I guess opposites attract! We both share a passion for music and even today we enjoy each other&rsquo;s company at major championships. She is my road dog. For her to win gold (in the shot put) in Grosseto as well was special.
&ldquo;Looking back on my experience it was great to be given the chance to run on the international stage for the first time. I really appreciated what I achieved in Grosseto, and it set me up for years to come.&rdquo;
Steve Landells for the IAAF

Olympic 400m hurdles champion Kerron Clement casts his mind back 14 years to this image of him and the world U20 record-breaking US 4x400m quartet at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Grosseto, Italy.

Kerron Clement’s story behind the picture

Winners of the three biggest titles on offer over 400m hurdles will line up against Norwegian record-holder Karsten Warmholm at the Oslo Bislett Games, part of the IAAF Diamond League, on 15 June.
Olympic champion Kerron Clement, world champion Nicholas Bett and European champion Yasmani Copello are all in the field, as is Olympic silver medallist Bonface Mucheru, Olympic fourth-place finisher Thomas Barr, 2014 European champion Kariem Hussein and 2014 European silver medallist Rasmus Magi.
Clement has shown extraordinary consistency at major championships since he first came to prominence at the 2004 World Junior Championships. After winning world titles in 2007 and 2009, the US hurdler reached the finals of the 2011, 2013 and 2015 World Championships before winning a long-awaited Olympic title over the distance in 2016.
While Clement has been in the spotlight for more than a decade, Warholm made his breakthrough just last year. He started the season as a decathlete that dabbled in one-lap events, but by the end of 2016, the 21-year-old had established himself as a major global threat at the 400m hurdles.
Last season he broke the Norwegian record for 400m hurdles on numerous occasions, clocking 48.84 at the European Championships and reducing it to 48.49 at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. He eventually missed a place in the final by just 0.17.
During the recent winter months, the 2013 world U18 octathlon champion focused more on the one lap and broke 46 seconds for 400m indoors and established a world indoor best for the indoor 300m hurdles.
This feature event of the Bislett Games will be keenly watched by a special guest of honour: Edwin Moses.
The 400m hurdles legend is a double Olympic champion, a two-time world champion and set multiple world records in the event. At one stage of his illustrious career, he was unbeaten in 122 consecutive races.
Moses also still holds the Bislett stadium and meeting record of 47.67 from 1979, which at the time was the fourth-fastest performance in history.
Organisers for the IAAF
2017 IAAF Diamond League calendar: 5 May &ndash; Doha, QAT 13 May &ndash; Shanghai, CHN 27 May &ndash; Eugene, USA 8 Jun &ndash; Rome, ITA 15 Jun &ndash; Oslo, NOR 18 Jun &ndash; Stockholm, SWE 1 Jul &ndash; Paris, FRA 6 Jul &ndash; Lausanne, SUI 9 Jul &ndash; London, GBR 16 Jul &ndash; Rabat, MAR 21 Jul &ndash; Monaco, MON 20 Aug &ndash; Birmingham, GBR 24 Aug &ndash; Zurich, SUI 1 Sep &ndash; Brussels, BEL

Winners of the three biggest titles on offer over 400m hurdles will line up against Norwegian record-holder Karsten Warmholm at the Oslo Bislett Games, part of the IAAF Diamond League, on 15 June.

World, Olympic and European 400m hurdles champions face Norway’s best in Oslo – IAAF Diamond League

US 400m hurdler Kerron Clement talks about the moment he won a long-awaited gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
&nbsp;
<hr />
&nbsp;
&ldquo;Winning gold in Rio was the moment when I realised I fulfilled the dreams I had been working towards my whole career. When I crossed that line, and I knew I had finally won that elusive Olympic gold medal, it meant so much to me. It was the icing on the cake and the moment I had longed for.
&ldquo;I remember at my first Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 I finished second in the 400m hurdles. For many people, winning silver would be a major accomplishment, but for me that wasn&rsquo;t enough. I had won the world title leading into Beijing and I just didn&rsquo;t feel complete winning silver.
&ldquo;<a href="https://www.iaaf.org/news/series/kerron-clement-surgery-2012-400m-hurdles-usa" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">In London 2012 it was a major achievement for me to simply qualify for the team</a> having undergone surgery in February that year. Yet I always thought one day &ndash; even after suffering a slump of several seasons &ndash; I would have my breakthrough. And that moment arrived in Rio.
&ldquo;At the 2015 World Championships in Beijing I felt I was edging closer to achieving my goals. I finished fourth in the Bird&rsquo;s Nest Stadium &ndash; just 0.01 behind bronze medallist Jeffery Gibson of The Bahamas. It was really exciting to come so close to the medals.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&ldquo;From that moment on, I knew 2016 would be an amazing year. Later that year I started watching some older footage of me racing and I noticed I was really skinny back then. It was at that moment I decided to go on a very strict diet to lose some weight. I ate a lot of greens and cut back on the carbs. I had no juices and only drank water with my only goal to win Olympic gold.
&ldquo;Once in Rio, I adopted a different attitude. Normally as soon as I land in the country, I am in the zone. I like to be by myself and secluded from everyone else before I race. This time, though, I decided to have fun. I spent time with teammates, I watched the Olympic table tennis competition and I decided to be merry.
&ldquo;This more carefree mind-set put me in a relaxed state of mind ahead of my competition.
&ldquo;I had a bad race in the heat and finished third, but I made it through to the semi-finals. I did not waver from my goal, and my coach, Mike Holloway, said to me afterwards, &lsquo;are you ready to run now?&rsquo; I ran a much better semi-final, winning in 48.26.
&ldquo;The final took place in the morning session, which was unusual for a major championship final. Yet I told myself not to worry. I train at 11am every morning anyway, it is just like practice for me.
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t normally remember all my races but the Rio Olympic final I remember from start to finish. I ran that race in perfect tunnel vision. Everything clicked.
&ldquo;I knew I was in the lead from 200 metres and I just had to continue what I was doing. When I crossed the line, it was like, &lsquo;oh my God, I&rsquo;ve done it&rsquo;.
&ldquo;The final took place on 18 August but the realisation of what I&rsquo;d achieved didn&rsquo;t sink in until the end of the season when I was flying back home to the US after the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Zurich. It was on that plane, when I reflected on the entire season, I started to weep like a baby. I had achieved so much in 2016. I won Olympic gold, I was ranked No.1 in the world and I had won the Diamond Trophy.
&ldquo;To achieve this after so many setbacks and injuries over the previous five years, I was overwhelmed.&rdquo;
Steve Landells for the IAAF

US 400m hurdler Kerron Clement talks about the moment he won a long-awaited gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

That moment when… Clement finally became Olympic champion

A roll call of recent champions and record breakers will line up in Shanghai for the two hurdles events at the IAAF Diamond League meeting on 13 May when Olympic champions Omar McLeod and Kerron Clement face tough early season tests at the start of their 2017 campaigns.
Sprint hurdler McLeod produced the world&rsquo;s fastest time of the season to win the Shanghai meeting&rsquo;s traditional closing event 12 months ago, the Jamaican clocking 12.98 to grab the hurdles headlines ahead of two world champions and the world record-holder.
The 22-year-old will have to be at his best again this year as he faces a field worthy of any global final.
Spain&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega could provide the main opposition, but it will be a hard race to call with a line-up including 2013 world champion David Oliver, 2012 Olympic champion and world record-holder Aries Merritt, world champion Sergey Shubenkov, world silver medallist Hansle Parchment and China&rsquo;s Asian Games champion Xie Wenjun.
Ortega was second behind Oliver in Shanghai two years ago but will be looking to make amends in 2017 after being disqualified for a false start last year. He went on to win the 2016 Diamond Race Trophy with late-season victories in Lausanne and Brussels.
Merritt also false started in 2016 and is yet to win the Shanghai event in five appearances. Parchment was second last year, while Oliver triumphed in both 2010 and 2015 but could only place fifth last May.
It will be just as tough for Clement to take maximum points in the one-lap hurdles where the two-time world champion takes on the two men who joined him on the Olympic podium last year &ndash; Bonface Mucheru of Kenya and Turkey&rsquo;s Yasmani Copello, who set national records to take silver and bronze respectively.
Clement placed seventh in Shanghai last year but went to win the Diamond Race for 400m hurdles with victories in London and Zurich. Mucheru picked up the African title, while Copello won European gold in Amsterdam last July.
Mucheru&rsquo;s Olympic final run improved the Kenyan record set by Nicholas Bett to win the 2015 world title. After being disqualified in the Olympic heats, Bett will want to make a positive start in 2017 as he returns to Shanghai after finishing out of the points in sixth place last year.
Organisers for the IAAF
2017 IAAF Diamond League calendar 5 May &ndash; Doha, QAT 13 May &ndash; Shanghai, CHN 27 May &ndash; Eugene, USA 8 Jun &ndash; Rome, ITA 15 Jun &ndash; Oslo, NOR 18 Jun &ndash; Stockholm, SWE 1 Jul &ndash; Paris, FRA 6 Jul &ndash; Lausanne, SUI 9 Jul &ndash; London, GBR 16 Jul &ndash; Rabat, MAR 21 Jul &ndash; Monaco, MON 20 Aug &ndash; Birmingham, GBR 24 Aug &ndash; Zurich, SUI 1 Sep &ndash; Brussels, BEL

A roll call of recent champions and record breakers will line up in Shanghai for the two hurdles events at the IAAF Diamond League meeting on 13 May when Olympic champions Omar McLeod and Kerron Clement face tough early season tests at the start of their 2017 campaigns.

Tough tests for Olympic hurdles medallists in Shanghai – IAAF Diamond League

Further global athletics stars have confirmed that they will open their 2017 IAAF Diamond League seasons in Doha, setting up an unmissable start to the 14-meeting series on 5 May at Qatar Sports Club.
Olympic champions Christian Taylor and Kerron Clement will be among 10 global medallists that will star in the men&rsquo;s triple jump, 400m hurdles and 100m.
<h3>Taylor vs Claye vs Dong</h3>
The men&rsquo;s triple jump promises yet another exciting competition when all three Olympic medallists &ndash; Taylor, Will Claye and Dong Bin &ndash; meet again.
The USA&rsquo;s Taylor has been in unstoppable form over recent years and last year became the youngest back-to-back winner of Olympic triple jump titles. The world champion has won the past five successive Diamond Race titles in the event and will be looking to win his third Doha Diamond League crown.
Taylor&rsquo;s main challenges will come from teammate Claye, who finished runner-up to Taylor at the 2016 and 2012 Olympic Games, and China&rsquo;s Dong, the world indoor champion who jumped just one centimetre short of the Asian record in Rio to claim the bronze.
<h3>Gatlin vs De Grasse in the 100m</h3>
The men&rsquo;s 100m also promises to set Qatar Sports Club alive with a thrilling line-up that features sprint legends and rising stars.
Justin Gatlin, whose silver in Rio saw the then 34-year-old become the oldest man ever to win an Olympic 100m medal, will face fierce competition from 22-year-old sprint sensation Andre de Grasse of Canada, who claimed 200m silver and 100m bronze at the 2016 Games to add to his 2015 World Championships bronze.
Also challenging will be former world record-holder, Olympic 4x100m champion and last year&rsquo;s Diamond Race winner Asafa Powell, six-time Olympian and 2003 world champion Kim Collins, and Qatar&rsquo;s Asian record-holder Femi Ogunode.
<h3>Samba to challenge Clement in 400m hurdles</h3>
There will be further Qatari action in the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles when new sensation Abderrahman Samba lines up against Olympic champion Kerron Clement of the USA and Olympic silver medallist Bonface Mucheru of Kenya.
The 21-year-old Samba stunned the world in South Africa just last week when he ran a world-leading time and a huge personal best of 48.31 in just his third race at this distance. Clement&rsquo;s Olympic victory ended a seven-year wait between his last global success which came at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin. Clement also won the 2007 world title in Osaka and silver at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and was touted as the man to dominate his event for a generation before injury hampered his progress. However, Clement came back with a vengeance last year with further victory in the 2016 Diamond Race, and an exciting season awaits with the IAAF World Championships London 2017 on the horizon.
Organisers for the IAAF
2017 IAAF Diamond League calendar 5 May &ndash; Doha, QAT 13 May &ndash; Shanghai, CHN 27 May &ndash; Eugene, USA 8 Jun &ndash; Rome, ITA 15 Jun &ndash; Oslo, NOR 18 Jun &ndash; Stockholm, SWE 1 Jul &ndash; Paris, FRA 6 Jul &ndash; Lausanne, SUI 9 Jul &ndash; London, GBR 16 Jul &ndash; Rabat, MAR 21 Jul &ndash; Monaco, MON 20 Aug &ndash; Birmingham, GBR 24 Aug &ndash; Zurich, SUI 1 Sep &ndash; Brussels, BEL

Further global athletics stars have confirmed that they will open their 2017 IAAF Diamond League seasons in Doha, setting up an unmissable start to the 14-meeting series on 5 May at Qatar Sports Club.

Olympic champions Taylor and Clement join Doha line-up – IAAF Diamond League

Olympic 400m hurdles champion Kerron Clement has enjoyed a long and successful career. Yet the greatest sense of pride he felt was making the US team against all the odds at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
<h3>From hospital bed to US Trials podium in five months</h3>
&ldquo;My greatest challenge would be overcoming surgery in February 2012 and making the US Olympic team for the London Games later that year. I hadn&rsquo;t hurdled at all following surgery up until a few weeks before the US Trials, and I really didn&rsquo;t know if I would make the team. Yet I made up my mind that I was going to make the team regardless. Without doubt, that was my greatest challenge.
&ldquo;I had struggled with injury for some time and I had a choice to face either an injection or surgery on my groin. For me, I didn&rsquo;t want to feel the pain again, so I underwent surgery. I was fortunate to have the very best surgeon for the job and he advised me post-surgery to walk as soon as I could. I remember initially going out for four to five-mile walks with my mom in Florida on my road to recovery.
&ldquo;Following surgery, I felt like my groin needed to be cracked, but my therapist was afraid to do it because he didn&rsquo;t want to hurt me or mess anything up after the operation. However, the problem fixed itself naturally. I slipped in the bathroom around April of that year, but the way I slipped must have somehow cracked the groin and relieved the pain. It felt much better.
&ldquo;I still had little time to lose and a little over a month before the US Trials I went down to Brazil to compete in some flat 400m races. I needed the races because I had still not hurdled since the surgery. I ran in a pair of 46.5s; it wasn&rsquo;t fast, but a start.
&ldquo;That first training session back hurdling for the first time since surgery, I was very hesitant. It was then that my coach, Mike Holloway, said to me, &lsquo;trust yourself and land the hurdle the way you know you can&rsquo;. I trusted in coach, let go and guess what? It did not hurt.
&ldquo;Three weeks before the US Trials I ran in Clermont in my first 400m hurdles race since the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Korea. That day I ran 49.66. My coach was pleased. I was ready to run at the Olympic Trials.
&ldquo;Running in Eugene proved quite emotional. I&rsquo;d been through surgery and approaching the last hurdle I was outside of the top three places &ndash; which would guarantee a spot on the US Olympic team. At that point I thought I haven&rsquo;t gone through the surgery and all the rehab not to be in the top three, so I dug deeper and just beat Bershawn (Jackson) to the line by 0.05 to take third in 48.89.
&ldquo;When I realised I had made the team, I just started crying. Later that year at the London Olympic Games, I remember telling my room-mate I don&rsquo;t care what happens in the race, I don&rsquo;t care if I come last, because whatever happens, to have made the final after all the adversity I had been through felt like a million dollars to me. I finished eighth in that final, and in the mixed zone after the Olympic final in London, I broke down with tears of happiness.&rdquo;
Steve Landells for the IAAF

Olympic 400m hurdles champion Kerron Clement has enjoyed a long and successful career. Yet the greatest sense of pride he felt was making the US team against all the odds at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

My greatest challenge – Kerron Clement

In part six of our 2016 year-end review series, statisticians A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava look back on the best hurdles performances of the year.
<h3>Men&rsquo;s 110m hurdles</h3>
With four hurdlers under the magical 13-second barrier in 2015, there was little chance, even with the Olympics, that 2016 would be able to challenge the standard from last season. The reasons behind the slower results were multilayered and only one man, Omar McLeod, was able to repeat the feat of breaking 13 seconds in two successive seasons.&nbsp;
The 22-year-old Jamaican, who made a huge improvement in 2015 when lowering his personal best from 13.44 to 12.97, was the No.1 performer throughout the season. After winning the 60m hurdles title at the IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016 in 7.41, McLeod began his outdoor campaign with a strong two-week period, clocking 13.08 at the Drake Relays, 13.05 at Doha&rsquo;s IAAF Diamond League fixture and 12.98 at the Shanghai IAAF Diamond League stop, all world leads.
He followed with a 13.06 win at the Prefontaine Classic and 13.01 for the national title, marking a seven-for-seven run (two indoors and five outdoors) in 2016. But trouble followed. McLeod crashed through the final hurdle in Monaco in July and then, three days later at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial, hit a hurdle too hard midway to suffer back-to-back defeats heading into the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Despite those setbacks, McLeod was perfect in Rio, winning his heat and semifinal before comfortably securing the Olympic title in 13.05, 0.12 seconds ahead of Spain's Orlando Ortega, who took silver in 13.17. The 25-year-old Ortega came close to 13 seconds in 2014 when he clocked 13.01 in Monaco, and improved to 12.94 in Paris in 2015. This year he lowered the Spanish record to 13.04 and won the two IAAF Diamond League meetings after Rio in Lausanne and Brussels.&nbsp;
<h3>Men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles</h3>
The men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles season really didn&rsquo;t warm up properly before the Olympics. There were no performances under 48 seconds in the lead-in to Rio with a 48.10 run by Johnny Dutch pacing the season. The 27-year-old didn&rsquo;t make the US team and the fastest athlete entered in Rio was US champion Kerron Clement with a season's best of 48.40. This was by far the lowest standard in the event in the past 20 years.
Kenya's world champion Nicholas Bett had a disappointing season. He arrived in Rio with a modest 49.31 and was disqualified in the heats. He ended his season on an upnote, clocking 48.01 to win at the Paris IAAF Diamond League meeting.
In contrast to the rest of the season, the Rio competition was surprisingly good &ndash; and full of shocks. Ireland's 24-year-old Thomas Barr had only run 50.09 in the semi-finals of the European Championships five weeks earlier, but he was at a different level in Brazil, winning his semifinal with a 48.39 national record. In the final he missed a medal by just 0.05, but further improved his national record to 47.97 while finishing fourth.
Clement grabbed the gold in 47.73, closely followed by Kenyan Boniface Tumuti, whose 47.78 run was a national record. Yasmani Copello Escobar of Turkey, the European champion, took the bronze in 47.92, also a national record. The race produced the first career sub-48-second performances for the athletes placed second to fourth.
<h3>Women&rsquo;s 100m hurdles</h3>
The men&rsquo;s high hurdles event was traditionally almost monopolised by the USA but that has changed. Rio was the first Olympics ever (except for the boycotted 1980 Games) where the USA didn&rsquo;t secure a medal in the 110m hurdles. It&rsquo;s therefore quite remarkable that the picture is the exact opposite among the women.&nbsp;
The USA occupied the top seven positions on the 2016 world list and in Rio, Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin swept the medals.
And as the icing on the cake: the world record for the first time ever, set by a US athlete courtesy of Kendra Harrison. In the London leg of the IAAF Diamond League on 22 July, Harrison&rsquo;s 12.20 victory eclipsed Bulgaria&rsquo;s Yordanka Donkova&rsquo;s 12.21, a record which had stood for nearly 28 years. Harrison, one of the smoothest hurdlers ever, had a brilliant year overall, running sub-12.50 every month from April through August and winning 10 of her 11 competitions.
However, that sole loss was a costly one indeed as it happened at the extremely competitive and all-decisive US Olympic trials. A small technical error in the final left her a tantalising 0.07 from that all-important go-to-Rio top-three position. And still she ran a time (12.62) which no non-US hurdler bettered during the whole of 2016.
However, that loss in Eugene almost certainly raised the determination with which she ten days later approached the race in London.
<h3>Women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles</h3>
The event had no clear favourite for the Olympic gold going into 2016 but the 'Olympic dream' quite often inspires athletes to raise their game. This year witnessed 2013 world silver medalist Dalilah Muhammad return to the international scene after two years in relative anonymity.
Muhammad reigned supreme from the US Trials onwards. At the trials she won by more than a second in 52.88, the first sub-53 in the world since 2013, and followed that with a solid Olympic tune-up victory in London.&nbsp;
At the Olympics Muhammad was class apart, dipping under 54 seconds in the semis and winning the final by three metres in 53.13. She closed out her season with 53.78 for a comfortable win in the Lausanne. Overall Muhammad produced five sub-54 performances &ndash; no one else had more than two &ndash; and she was the sole sub-53.50 performer.
Behind Muhammad there were mixed fortunes but overall Sara Slott Petersen of Denmark was the most consistent, taking silver in Rio and never finishing lower than third, including in five IAAF Diamond League starts.
Eilidh Doyle, who was eighth at the Olympics, and Cassandra Tate, who didn&rsquo;t qualify for Rio, were the most prolific in the IAAF Diamond League. Their respective records: Doyle 1-3-2-1-4-2-3-5, and Tate 5-2-4-1-2-4-1. That victory in the final secured Tate the overall title, although she stood only 12th on the world list and had a 2-4 win-loss record against Doyle.
Sydney McLaughlin, who won the world U18 title in 2015 when still just 15, continued her progress and qualified for Rio after lowering the world U20 record to 54.15 at the US Trials where she finished third. In Rio she went as far as the semi-finals, where she finished fifth, nine days after her 17th birthday.
Mirko Jalava (men&rsquo;s events) and A. Lennart Julin (women&rsquo;s events) for the IAAF

In part six of our 2016 year-end review series, statisticians A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava look back on the best hurdles performances of the year. 

2016 end-of-year reviews – hurdles

Just what is it about 400m hurdlers and large spans of time between major global successes?
Back in 2000 Angelo Taylor snared the Olympic title in Sydney from the inside lane, only for the tall and gifted US athlete to regain the crown unexpectedly in Beijing eight years later.
Precisely the same time span bridged Felix Sanchez&rsquo;s twin Olympic successes between the Athens and London Olympic Games.&nbsp;
Meanwhile, this year, it was the turn of Kerron Clement to join the trend as his dazzling victory at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games ended a seven-year itch between his last global success, which came back at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin.
&ldquo;I always believed in myself,&rdquo; explains Clement, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Halloween. &ldquo;It was hard after injury and surgery but I never lost focus. I knew one day I could return to the podium and I made up my mind 2016 was the year to do it.&rdquo;
How right he was.
Rewind back to 2009 and Clement was touted as the man to dominate his event for a generation. Aged just 23 at the time, he had already secured back-to-back world 400m hurdles titles in Osaka and Berlin. He had smashed Michael Johnson&rsquo;s world indoor 400m record as a teenager and scooped the silver medal behind the aforementioned Taylor at the Beijing Olympics.&nbsp;
He began his 2010 campaign in blistering fashion with comprehensive Diamond League victories in Oslo and New York, yet a mystery virus picked up in Lausanne in which he woke up on race day with a badly swollen face and body brought a premature end to his season.
Nagging injury issues hampered his 2011 campaign and after pulling his groin muscle in the semi-final of the 400m hurdles at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, he had to concede his four-year grip on the world title. The Trinidad-born Clement was devastated.
&ldquo;It was the first time since I was freshman that I had not made the final of an event,&rdquo; says Clement, who moved with his family to live in the US at 12.&nbsp;
<h3>Pre-London return to Florida</h3>
In late 2011 Clement opted to leave his then coach Bobby Kersee and move east to reunite with his former coach at the University of Florida, Mike Holloway. Unfortunately, Clement&rsquo;s injury problems persisted. He aggravated the groin problem in February 2012 and he underwent two surgical procedures. He faced four months on the sidelines.
On the long road back to fitness, he walked four to five miles a day with his mother, although at that point a spot in the London Olympic team looked a long shot.
Badly undercooked at the US Olympic Trials, Clement surprised many by squeezing into the Olympic team in third, 0.05 clear of Bershawn Jackson. For Clement, booking his ticket to London was like &ldquo;winning a million dollars&rdquo;.
&ldquo;I really had to fight my way back,&rdquo; he explains. &ldquo;I was not close to 100% and while some of these guys had six or seven races under their belt, I only had one (400m hurdles race)."
He went on to perform with distinction in the British capital, placing eighth in the final after summoning up a season&rsquo;s best of 48.12 in the semi-final. Post-race he was proud and emotional.
&ldquo;Just making that Olympic final after all I&rsquo;d been through was one of the best moments of my career,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;After the final I went into the mixed zone and started crying. I felt like I had accomplished a lot.&rdquo;
His efforts in 2012 came at a cost. Mentally depleted in 2013, he finished eighth in the World Championship final in Moscow but he needed a break.
<h3>2014 reset&nbsp;</h3>
In 2014 he took that sabbatical from hurdling, preferring instead to compete in a few low-key 400m flat races. He took a vacation in the Dominican Republic, he avoided watching athletics on TV, had some fun and recharged his batteries. The ploy worked.
&ldquo;By the fall of 2014, I felt like a new person,&rdquo; says Clement. &ldquo;It was like I had pressed the reset button on the next chapter of my career. I was hungry to hurdle again, having not completed a hurdle drill for a year.&rdquo;
In late 2014 he made the decision to reunite with his former strength and conditioning coach Mark Campbell and he believes the significance of the move should not be overstated.
With an ability to push Clement &ldquo;mentally&rdquo; in the gym, Campbell&rsquo;s programme, coupled with his motivational skills, has bolstered Clement's strength and allowed him to unleash that trademark late burst off the last hurdle, making him once more a genuine global force.&nbsp;
Last year he showed signs he was approaching his best when placing fourth at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015, where he missed out on a bronze medal by just 0.01 to Jeffery Gibson of The Bahamas.
Then in January this year he took another significant step towards his Rio triumph on the back of watching a video of his 2007 World Championships victory in Osaka.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I thought I looked really skinny back then,&rdquo; he admits. &ldquo;That made me want to go on a diet and look skinny again.&rdquo;
Limiting his carbohydrate intake and restricting his fluid intake to water, he lost more than 10 pounds. Feeling much lighter on his feet, he knew he was ready to run fast in 2016 and his confidence was not misplaced as he triumphed at the US Olympic Trials in 48.50 to win his first US 400m hurdles title for 10 years.&nbsp;
<h3>Winning Olympic gold lifts &lsquo;weight of the world&rsquo; from his shoulders</h3>
Adopting a more relaxed attitude in Rio compared to previous Olympics, Clement opted to fully embrace the experience. He caught some of the other sporting action, played table tennis and had some fun.
A sloppy first-round heat where he placed third in 49.13 after some technical errors shook Clement out of his complacency.
In the semi-final he rolled back the years to produce a majestic performance to win in 48.26.
Then in the final he proved unstoppable as he held off a late charge from Kenyan Boniface Tumuti to set a world-leading time of 47.73 and record his quickest time for nine years. He was Olympic champion at last.
&ldquo;It was surreal,&rdquo; he says of winning Olympic gold. &ldquo;It felt like the weight of the world lifted from my shoulders. I felt complete. I suffered all those years of injuries and setbacks, but never wanted to quit. I always knew something big was going to happen.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;Complete&rdquo; Clement may be, but Rio most certainly does not represent the end game. He has returned to training, determined to improve as a hurdler and already has his sights set on next year&rsquo;s IAAF World Championships London 2017, where he is looking to create his own piece of history.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m chasing titles and I would like to become the first 400m hurdler in history to win three world titles,&rdquo; he adds.
It is a second chapter to his career Clement fully intends not to waste.
Steve Landells for the IAAF

Just what is it about 400m hurdlers and large spans of time between major global successes?

Clement: ‘I always believed in myself’ 

After what many people thought was a modest and uninspiring season of 400m hurdling at an elite level, suddenly the event burst to life in Rio and a thrilling final saw four men go under 48 seconds for the first time in 15 years with Kerron Clement taking the gold medal in 47.73,
From the gun, it was Clement working hard over hurdles two to five to have a clear lead at the halfway point.
Running in lane five, the 2007 and 2009 world champion was almost up on the shoulder of Jamaica&rsquo;s Annsert Whyte in the lane outside him as they entered the second bend.
Around the bend, Turkey&rsquo;s European champion Yasmani Copello also started to motor, having run a conservative first half of the race.
Into the home straight, Clement held a slight lead which he managed to maintain over the final two hurdles and all the way to the line for his fastest time since winning his first world title in Osaka nine years ago.
"I came out here with one mindset and that was to execute my race plan and trust my fitness and just believe in myself. I knew the last 100 metres would be tough and those guys would be coming the last 50 metres," reflected Clement.
"I felt the lactate in my legs and I thought about diving like the Bahamas runner (Shaunae Miller in the women's 400m) but I dug down deeper to get that win and my first individual (Olympic) gold medal.
"It is a surreal feeling. It was a great honour for my Mum who gave me the flag to run around the stadium because she was here to witness history.
"Before we left the States I told her to bring a flag because I knew I was going to win. I made a space on my cabinet where I have all my medals and the space in the cabinet reads 'gold medal 2016' so I knew I was coming here to win the gold medal."
Behind Clement, there was all sorts of drama occurring over the final 60 metres or so.
Whyte started to weaken while Kenya&rsquo;s Boniface Tumuti, in lane seven, started a charge from a long way back that took him past everyone apart from Clement. Had the race had been 20 metres further, he might even have grabbed the gold medal.
As it was, he had to settle for the silver medal in a national record of 47.78, shaving 0.01 off the time Nicholas Bett set when winning the gold medal at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015.
Copello held the bronze medal slot coming off the final hurdle but then started to visibly tire and only just managed to hold off the fast-finishing Irishman Thomas Barr. The pair were rewarded with national records of 47.92 and 47.97 respectively.
Whyte drifted back to sixth but still clocked a personal best of 48.07 while Rasmus Magi reduced his Estonian record to 48.40. Kenya&rsquo;s Haron Koech, after two personal bests in his first two races in Rio, couldn&rsquo;t make it a hat-trick and was seventh in 49.09.
The one man who didn&rsquo;t complete the race was Puerto Rico&rsquo;s 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Javier Culson. He might have been in contention to add to his medal collection, but false-started.
There were no protests from the 32-year-old two-time World Championships medallist, but his face was a picture of resignation and disappointment as he left the track.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF

After what many people thought was a modest and uninspiring season of 400m hurdling at an elite level, suddenly the event burst to life in Rio and a thrilling final saw four men go under 48 seconds for the first time in 15 years with Kerron Clement taking the gold medal in 47.73,

Report: men's 400m hurdles final – Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Kerron Clement consolidated his status as the slight favourite for the men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles when he clocked a season&rsquo;s best of 48.26 to win the first semi-final on Tuesday.
Japan&rsquo;s Keisuke Nozawa was the first to rise over the initial six barriers but Clement&rsquo;s vast experience told during the second half of the race and the two-time world champion, running out in lane eight, held the lead coming into the home straight.
As Nozawa, in lane three, started to fade, Kenya's 2015 World Championships finalist Boniface Tumuti came through strongly to take the second automatic qualifying place in 48.85.
Sergio Fernandez also finished fast to take third in 48.87, finally getting the Spanish record after several near misses in recent weeks, and taking 0.13 off a mark which had stood since 1987. However, it was not quick enough to advance to the final.
Semi-final two saw Jamaica&rsquo;s Annsert Whyte run an authoritative race from the gun to take 0.05 from his personal best with a win in 48.32.
Now 32, Javier Culson ran a well-timed race to come through strongly for second place in 48.46 as Turkey&rsquo;s European champion Yasmani Copello looked to be having to work harder than expected throughout the race but hung on to take third in 48.61. He was followed home 0.03 later by Estonia&rsquo;s Rasmus Magi, both men eventually getting through as non-automatic qualifiers.
The third semi-final witnessed as a surprise as Thomas Barr came down the home straight like a bullet to win in 48.39 &ndash; evoking memories that most athletics fans have only read about of Bob Tisdall&rsquo;s 1932 Olympic win in this event for Ireland &ndash; and taking 0.25 off his own national record.
With a relatively raw technique but outstanding flat speed, Haron Koech &ndash; the brother of world champion Nicholas Bett &ndash; held the lead through the first eight hurdles and hung on to take second, setting his second personal best in as many races when crossing the line in 48.49.
USA&rsquo;s Byron Robinson also finished well, as Norway&rsquo;s Karston Warholm &ndash; who had challenged Koech for the lead between 200 and 300 metres &ndash; faded. Robinson's personal best of 48.65 in third was not quick enough by just 0.01 to progress as Warholm finished fourth in 48.81.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Kerron Clement consolidated his status as the slight favourite for the men’s 400m hurdles when he clocked a season’s best of 48,26 to win the first semi-final on Tuesday.

Report: men's 400m hurdles semi-finals – Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Could Kerron Clement return to the top of the podium at a major championship after a seven-year absence?
It certainly seems like Rio could be the place where the 2007 and 2009 world champion will have the spotlight shone on him again after a long hiatus.
He goes to Rio as the fastest entrant, having run a season&rsquo;s best of 48.40 in his last outing, a victory at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in London last month.
Into the bargain, after fading badly in the final at the US Olympic Trials where Clement won, world leader Johnny Dutch did not make the US team for Rio.
The stars seem to be aligning further in Clement&rsquo;s favour as the three men who finished in front of him and got on the podium at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 don&rsquo;t look anything like medal contenders so far this summer, or are absent.
Kenya&rsquo;s surprise world champion Nicholas Bett has been unconvincing this year, with a season's best of 49.31, and Bahamas&rsquo; world bronze medallist Jeffrey Gibson has gone under 49 seconds with a 2016 best of 48.96 but lies down in equal-18th place on the world list. World silver medallist Dennis Kudryavtsev is missing due to the sanctions against Russian athletes.
The biggest danger to Clement&rsquo;s gold medal hopes, in what has been a modest year for the event, may come from Turkey&rsquo;s Cuban-born Yasmani Copello.
Copello was sixth in Beijing, two places behind Clement, but he reduced his national record to 48.42 in the European Championships semi-final before going on to win the gold medal in more difficult conditions in Amsterdam.
Traditionally, all three men who wear the US vest at a major championship can be considered medal prospects but that might not be the case this time.
Behind Clement at the US Olympic Trials was the unheralded University of Texas student Byron Robinson, who clocked 48.79, after having not even made the NCAA (US collegiate) finals the previous month.
Michael Tinsley, the Olympic silver medallist in 2012, was third at the US Trials after good wins at the IAAF Diamond League meetings in Shanghai and Eugene but trailed home a poor eighth in London so there has to be some concerns over his shape.
<h3>Culson's big chance as well</h3>
By contrast, Javier Culson was third in London four years ago and got silver medals at the 2009 and 2011 World Championships. This year the Puerto Rican lies fourth on the 2016 world list with his 48.63, clocked when finishing second behind Clement at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in London and appears to be rounding nicely into form at the right time.
Immediately behind Culson on the world list are Jamaica&rsquo;s Annsert Whyte and Japan&rsquo;s Keisuke Nozawa, who have almost identical bests of 48.66 and 48.67. However, it will be intriguing to see how this pair perform as neither of them have made the final of a major championship final before.
Jaheel Hyde is the two-time world U20 champion and won his second title in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz just a few weeks ago.
It will be a tall order for the Jamaican to win in Rio &ndash; although nobody needs much reminding of Keshorn Walcott&rsquo;s back-to-back javelin triumphs in 2012. No teenager has ever won the 400m hurdles Olympic title but qualifying for the Olympics alone in such a hotly-disputed event for Jamaica shows that he has prodigious talent that is coupled with competitive maturity.
South Africa&rsquo;s LJ van Zyl is also running well and, in a year when no one really stands out form the crowd, he could also surprise.
Van Zyl is not back to his 2011 best, when he rattled off a string of runs below 48 seconds and took the World Championships silver medal, but with a season&rsquo;s best of 48.67 and some solid performances on the international circuit, it would be unwise to bet against him raising his game in Rio.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Could Kerron Clement return to the top of the podium at a major championship after a seven-year absence?

Preview: men's 400m hurdles – Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Jamaica&rsquo;s world indoor champion Omar McLeod is one of several top hurdlers confirmed for Lausanne&rsquo;s Athletissima meeting on 25 August, the 11th stop of this year&rsquo;s IAAF Diamond League.
The 22-year-old Jamaican, who finished 2015 as the second-fastest athlete in the world over 110m hurdles with a best of 12.97, has dominated the season so far with IAAF Diamond League wins in Doha, Shanghai and Eugene.
McLeod, who has a sub-10-second 100m to his credit this year, holds five of the seven fastest performances achieved in 2016, and his winning time of 12.98 in Shanghai means he is the only athlete to have run a sub-13-second time so far this summer.
McLeod will be facing Spain&rsquo;s Orlando Ortega, who topped the world list ahead of McLeod last year with a best of 12.94. He has a best of 13.04 this year and has just won the Spanish Championships in 13.09.
Other athletes in the 110m hurdles line-up include Frenchmen Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, winner at the 2014 Lausanne meeting, Wilhem Belocian, bronze medallist at the recent European Championships in Amsterdam, and Dimitri Bascou, the European champion who also won the event at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in London last Saturday.
Double world 400m hurdles champion Kerron Clement, who won his event in London last weekend, will offer home hurdler Kariem Hussein a serious challenge in the Stade de la Pontaise.
The 30-year-old US hurdler won his world titles back in 2007 and 2009, but he is getting faster and faster as the Olympic Games approach, winning the US Trials in 48.50 and then improving his season&rsquo;s best to 48.40 in London. Clement has never won in Lausanne and will certainly be eager to add a victory at Athletissima to his collection.
The same goes for US compatriot Michael Tinsley, silver medallist at the 2012 Olympic Games and 2013 IAAF World Championships, who took the third automatic qualifying spot for Rio at the US Trials. The 400m hurdles in Lausanne will also feature the man who took second place at the US Trials, Byron Robinson, plus Britain&rsquo;s 2012 European champion Rhys Williams.
Organisers for the IAAF
2016 IAAF Diamond League calendar 6 May &ndash; Doha, QAT 14 May &ndash; Shanghai, CHN 22 May &ndash; Rabat, MAR 28 May &ndash; Eugene, USA 2 Jun &ndash; Rome, ITA 5 Jun &ndash; Birmingham, GBR 9 Jun &ndash; Oslo, NOR 16 Jun &ndash; Stockholm, SWE 15 Jul &ndash; Monaco, MON 22-23 Jul &ndash; London, GBR 25 Aug &ndash; Lausanne, SUI 27 Aug &ndash; Paris, FRA 1 Sep &ndash; Zurich, SUI 9 Sep &ndash; Brussels, BEL

Jamaica’s world indoor champion Omar McLeod is one of several top hurdlers confirmed for Lausanne’s Athletissima meeting on 25 August, the 11th stop of this year’s IAAF Diamond League.