Karsten Warholm (Norwegian pronunciation:[ˈkɑʂtɛnˈvɑ:rhɔ̂ɫm]; born 28 February 1996) is a Norwegiansprinter who competes in the400 metres and400 m hurdles. He is the2020 Tokyo Olympic champion, silver medalist at the2024 Paris Olympics, three-time world champion andworld record holder in the latter event.
Warholm has won gold for the 400 m hurdles at theWorld Athletics Championships in2017,2019 and2023, as well as the2018,2022, and2024 European Athletics Championships. He is the first athlete ever to win three 400 m hurdles events at the World Championships.[4] Warholm is a three-timeDiamond League 400 m hurdles champion. In 2021, he was votedWorld AthleticsMale Athlete of the Year.
In July 2021, Warholm broke the 29-year-old world record in 400 m hurdles. The following month at the2020 Tokyo Olympics, he won the gold medal in the400 m hurdles with a time of 45.94 seconds, breaking his own world record by over three-quarters of a second.[5]
In March 2013, Warholm won eight gold medals in the Norwegian Youth Indoors Championships.[2] In June at the 2013Bislett Games, he competed in the200 metres, finishing seventh in his heat with a time of 22.25 s.Usain Bolt won a different heat at the same meet with a time of 19.79 s.[6] At the2013 World Youth Championships in July, he won gold in theboys' octathlon with 6451 points, a personal best.[7]
In 2014, Warholm competed in thedecathlon as well as in specialised events. At the time, his possible future specialization were thelong jump,hurdling and400 metres.[8] His weakest performances in the decathlon were in the throwing events.[9]
In June 2014, Warholm set a Norwegian junior record in the 400 m with a time of 46.31 s.[10]
In July 2015, he won silver in the 400 m at the2015 European Junior Championships with a time of 46.50 s, 0.02 s behindBenjamin Lobo Vedel. He also won silver in the decathlon with 7764 points, a personal best.[11]
In July 2016, while participating in the semi-final of the400 m hurdles at the2016 European Championships, he broke the Norwegian national record with a time of 48.84 s.[12] He thenfinished sixth in the final, with a time of 49.82 s. In August, he made it to thesemi-finals in the 400 m hurdles at the2016 Rio Olympics.[13]
In July 2017, Warholm won gold in the 400 m hurdles at the2017 European U23 Championships, setting a championship record of 48.37 s. He also claimed silver in the 400 m with a time of 45.75 s. In August, hetook gold in the 400 m hurdles at the2017 World Championships with a time of 48.35 s.[14] Two weeks after his success at the World Championships, he improved upon his own Norwegian record in the 400 m hurdles with a time of 48.22 s at theWeltklasse Zürich.[15]
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At the2018 European Championships Warholm won the gold medal in the 400 m hurdles event with a time of 47.64 s, setting his new personal best and the new European U23 record.[16]
In March 2019, Warholm won gold in the 400 m at the2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships. His time of 45.05 s equalled the European record set byThomas Schönlebe in 1988.[17] In June at theBislett Games inOslo, he broke the European men's 400 m hurdles record with a time of 47.33 s.[18] At theMüller Anniversary Games in July, Warholm improved on his 400 m hurdles time, taking it to 47.12 s.[19] At the Weltklasse Zürich in August, Warholm set a new European record in the event, with a time of 46.92 s, making him the third person to run under 47 seconds for the distance. He was chased to the finish line byRai Benjamin, who became the fourth person to break 47 seconds, with a time of 46.98 s.[20] At the2019 World Athletics Championships inDoha, Qatar, he won the 400 m hurdles in a time of 47.42 seconds, retaining his championship title from 2017.[21]
On 11 June 2020, Warholm competed in the Impossible Games inBislett Stadium in Oslo. He ran the300 metres hurdles with a world best time of 33.78 s, bestingChris Rawlinson's time of 34.48 s set in 2002. He also ran 400 m indoors with a time of 45.97 s.[22] On 23 August in Stockholm, Warholm ran a personal best of 46.87 s, narrowly missing Kevin Young's world record of 46.78 s. With this performance, Warholm became the first person to break 47 seconds twice.[23]
On 1 July 2021, in his first race of the season at Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Warholm brokeKevin Young's 1992 world record with a time of 46.70 s.[24]
Warholm later broke his own record by 0.76 seconds at the postponed2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning gold in a new world record of 45.94 s, an enormous 1.63% improvement on the previous record – the previous improvement of that magnitude was eitherDavid Hemery's 0.82 s improvement to 48.12 s in 1968 (1.68%, usingfully automatic time), orGlenn Davis's 0.9 s improvement to 49.5 s in 1956 (1.79%, by official records including hand timing by the rules in place at the time).[25] Warholm became the first European to win the event sinceVolker Beck in1980.[26] Warholm's time, the first sub-46 s time for the 400 m hurdles, was faster than 18 runners in themen's 400 m without hurdles.[27]
The silver medalist in the final,Rai Benjamin, also beat the old record, with a time of 46.17 s; the bronze medalist,Alison dos Santos, was 0.02 seconds short of the old world record with a time of 46.72 s, but joined the other two in bettering the old Olympic record of 46.78 s. Warholm broke the old record without using the new "super spikes" worn by many of his competitors;[28] he has criticized those spikes as "bullshit".[25][29]
On 4 September 2024, ahead of theZurich Diamond League, Warholm competed in an exhibition100 m event againstpole vault world record holderMondo Duplantis. Duplantis won in a new personal best of 10.37 seconds, while Warholm finished a tenth of a second behind at 10.47 seconds, also in a personal best time.[30][31]
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| Surface | Event | Time | Date | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outdoor | 100 m | 10.47 | 4 September 2024 | Zurich | Exhibition race[30] |
| 200 m | 21.09 21.00 w | 4 June 2016 12 June 2015 | Florø Bærum | (wind-assisted) | |
| 300 m | 32.49 | 22 August 2018 | Bergen | NB | |
| 400 m | 44.87 | 10 June 2017 | Florø | NR | |
| 300 m hurdles | 33.05 | 26 April 2025 | Xiamen | World best | |
| 400 m hurdles | 45.94 | 3 August 2021 | Tokyo | World record | |
| Indoor | 60 m | 6.75 | 28 January 2017 | Florø | |
| 100 m | 10.49 | 28 January 2017 | Florø | ||
| 200 m | 20.91 | 5 February 2017 | Ulsteinvik | ||
| 400 m | 45.05 | 2 March 2019 | Glasgow | =European record | |
| 300 m hurdles | 34.26 | 10 February 2018 | Tampere | OTWB |
| Event | Performance | Location | Date | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decathlon | — | Eskilstuna | 18–19 July 2015 | 7,764 points |
| 100 meters | 10.54 (+0.7 m/s) | Lillestrøm | 11 September 2015 | 966 points |
| Long jump | 7.66 m (25 ft1+1⁄2 in) (+1.5 m/s) | Eskilstuna | 18 July 2015 | 975 points |
| Shot put | 12.19 m (39 ft11+3⁄4 in) | Eskilstuna | 18 July 2015 | 618 points |
| High jump | 2.05 m (6 ft8+1⁄2 in) | Bergen | 31 May 2014 | 850 points |
| 400 meters | 46.23 | Oslo | 11 June 2015 | 997 points |
| 110 meters hurdles | 14.05 (+1.6 m/s) | Gothenburg | 29 June 2014 | 968 points |
| Discus throw | 39.30 m (128 ft 11 in) | Eskilstuna | 19 July 2015 | 650 points |
| Pole vault | 4.30 m (14 ft1+1⁄4 in) | Eskilstuna | 19 July 2015 | 702 points |
| Javelin throw | 45.82 m (150 ft3+3⁄4 in) | Eskilstuna | 19 July 2015 | 527 points |
| 1500 meters | 4:44.73 | Eskilstuna | 19 July 2015 | 651 points |
| Virtual Best Performance | 7,904 points | |||
| Year | Championship | Venue | Position | Event | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | World Youth Championships | Donetsk | 1st | Octathlon | 6451 | |
| 15th | Medley relay | 1:56.92 | [33] | |||
| 2014 | World Junior Championships | Eugene | 10th | Decathlon | 7551 | |
| 11th | 4 × 100 m relay | 40.62 | [34] | |||
| European Championships | Zürich | 31st | 400 m | 46.73 | [35] | |
| 2015 | European Team Championships | Cheboksary | 11th | 4 × 400 m relay | 3:10.65 | [36] |
| European Junior Championships | Eskilstuna | 2nd | 400 m | 46.50 | ||
| 2nd | Decathlon | 7764 | ||||
| 2016 | European Championships | Amsterdam | 6th | 400 m hurdles | 49.82 | |
| 16th | 4 × 400 m relay | 3:10.76 | [37] | |||
| Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro | 10th | 400 m hurdles | 48.81 | [38] | |
| 2017 | European U23 Championships | Bydgoszcz | 2nd | 400 m | 45.75 | |
| 1st | 400 m hurdles | 48.37 | ||||
| World Championships | London | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 48.35 | ||
| 2018 | European Championships | Berlin | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 47.64 | |
| 8th | 400 m | 46.68 | ||||
| Continental Cup | Ostrava | 3rd | 400 m hurdles | 48.56 | ||
| 2019 | European Indoor Championships | Glasgow | 1st | 400 m | 45.05 | |
| World Championships | Doha | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 47.42 | ||
| 2021 | Olympic Games | Tokyo | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 45.94 | WR |
| 2022 | World Championships | Eugene | 7th | 400 m hurdles | 48.42 | |
| European Championships | Munich | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 47.12 | CR | |
| 2023 | European Indoor Championships | Istanbul | 1st | 400 m | 45.35 | |
| World Championships | Budapest | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 46.89 | ||
| 2024 | World Indoor Championships | Glasgow | 2nd | 400 m | 45.34 | |
| European Championships | Rome | 1st | 400 m hurdles | 46.98 | CR | |
| Olympic Games | Paris | 2nd | 400 m hurdles | 47.06 | ||
| 2025 | World Championships | Tokyo | 5th | 400 m hurdles | 47.58 |
20192021.[39][40]Warholm was born in the town ofUlsteinvik on Norway's western coast.[41]
He is in a relationship with Oda Djupvik.[41] He enjoys fishing, cars, and building Lego.[41]
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Men's 400 m Hurdles European Record Holder 13 June 2019 – | Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Men's 400 m Hurdles World Record Holder 1 July 2021 – | Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Awards and achievements | ||
| Preceded by | Men's European Athletics Rising Star of the Year 2017 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Norwegian Sportsperson of the Year 2017 2019 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Men'sTrack & Field News Athlete of the Year 2019 | Succeeded by |
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European Athletics Championships champions in men's400 metres hurdles | |
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European Athletics U23 Championships champions in men's400 metres hurdles | |
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