Karsten Warholm, the 24-year-old Norwegian, who has been touted as a special star for the future, almost broke a 28-year old world record in the 400m hurdles during the Diamond League athletics tournament in Stockholm.
Karsten Warholm, a 24-year-old Norwegian sprinter who is being touted as a future star in athletics, showed his mettle during the Diamond League athletics tournament in Stockholm. Warholm was threatening to break a 28-year world record set in the 400m hurdles as he started out in fine fashion from lane eight. Kevin Young, who had set a world record of 46.78 seconds in the 400m hurdle during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, was under threat from Warholm. However, the Norwegian just missed out but he won the race with a time of 46.87, just missing the world record by 0.09 seconds. Frenchman Wilfried Happio was second in 49.14, just ahead of compatriot Ludvy Vaillant who clocked 49.18.
This continued Warholm’s consistency in the season. Just one week ago in Monaco, Warholm had set a time of 47.10 seconds in the same event. However, Warholm was not done for the day. Almost one and a half hours later, the 24-year-old came back for the 400m and he won the race with a time of 45.05 seconds, ahead of Slovenia’s Luka Janezic who clocked 45.85.
Hitting the last hurdle
Speaking after the race, Warholm said that it is still a learning process for him. “I hit that last hurdle because I went really hard for the first nine, and stuff like this happens. You know, I’m always telling myself to be a warrior when I go out on the track. I think I was rewarded by just going all in at the end and I got a great time. It's a great lesson for me to always run until the finish line,” Warholm said.
Warholm has won the world U18 octathlon title in Donetsk with a margin of almost 200 points, and some of his marks in the eight disciplines would have been competitive in the individual finals. Moving up to the U20 age group, and featuring in 10 disciplines in the decathlon, he continued to improve across the board and earned silver medals in the decathlon and 400m at the 2015 European U20 Championships in Eskilstuna.
In the 2016 Rio Olympics, it was the first season in which the 400m hurdles was his main focus. The early signs were promising; in his first race of the season, he broke the national record with 49.62. By the end of that year, he had reached the European final, made it to the Olympic semifinals, and reduced his best to 48.49.
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 "Karsten Warholm Athletics")
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