Karsten Warholm

Karsten Warholm is a Norwegian sprinter specializing in the 400 meters and the 400-meter hurdles. He won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the silver at the 2024 Paris Games in the hurdles. A three-time world champion (2017, 2019, 2023), he also held the world record in the event. In July 2021, Warholm broke a 29-year-old world record, and the following month at the Tokyo Olympics, he shattered his own mark with a time of 45.94 seconds—the first sub-46-second run in history. He was named World Athletics Male Athlete of the Year in 2021.

Warholm’s early career included eight gold medals at the 2013 Norwegian Youth Indoor Championships. That June, at the Bislett Games, he ran the 200 meters in 22.25 seconds, finishing seventh in his heat. At the 2013 World Youth Championships, he won the boys’ octathlon with 6,451 points. In 2014, he competed in the decathlon alongside specialized events, with his weakest performances in the throwing disciplines. That June, he set a Norwegian junior record in the 400 meters at 46.31 seconds. At the 2015 European Junior Championships, he took silver in the 400 meters (46.50 seconds) and silver in the decathlon (7,764 points). In July 2016, he broke the Norwegian national record in the 400-meter hurdles (48.84 seconds) during the European Championships semifinal, finishing sixth in the final. He reached the semifinals at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

In July 2017, Warholm won gold in the 400-meter hurdles at the European U23 Championships (48.37 seconds, a championship record) and silver in the 400 meters (45.75 seconds). The following month, he took gold at the 2017 World Championships (48.35 seconds). Two weeks later, he improved his Norwegian record to 48.22 seconds in Zürich. At the 2018 European Championships, he won gold in the hurdles with a personal best of 47.64 seconds, a European U23 record. In March 2019, he won gold in the 400 meters at the European Indoor Championships, equaling the European record of 45.05 seconds. That June, at the Bislett Games, he broke the European 400-meter hurdles record (47.33 seconds). In July, he lowered it to 47.12 seconds at the Müller Anniversary Games, and in August, he set a new European record of 46.92 seconds in Zürich, becoming the third person under 47 seconds. He retained his world title in Doha in 2019 with a time of 47.42 seconds.

On 11 June 2020, at the Impossible Games in Oslo, Warholm ran the 300-meter hurdles in a world-best 33.78 seconds, beating Chris Rawlinson’s 2002 mark. He also ran the 400 meters indoors in 45.97 seconds. On 23 August in Stockholm, he ran a personal best of 46.87 seconds, narrowly missing Kevin Young’s world record of 46.78 seconds, and became the first person to break 47 seconds twice.

On 1 July 2021, in Oslo, Warholm broke Young’s 1992 world record with a time of 46.70 seconds. At the Tokyo Olympics, he won gold in a new world record of 45.94 seconds—a 0.76-second improvement. This 1.63% drop was comparable to David Hemery’s 1968 improvement (1.68%) or Glenn Davis’s 1956 improvement (1.79%). Warholm became the first European to win the event since Volker Beck in 1980. His time was faster than 18 runners in the 400-meter flat race. Silver medalist Rai Benjamin also beat the old record (46.17 seconds), and bronze medalist Alison dos Santos (46.72 seconds) missed it by 0.02 seconds. Warholm did not use the “super spikes” worn by many competitors, calling them “bullshit.”

On 4 September 2024, ahead of the Zürich Diamond League, Warholm raced pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis in an exhibition 100-meter event. Duplantis won in a personal best of 10.37 seconds, with Warholm finishing at 10.47 seconds, also a personal best.