ACTION MÜLLER ANNIVERSARY GAMES, LONDON
KARSTEN WARHOLM was in the mood
to entertain in London. He turned
up at his pre-competition press
conference on Friday wearing an
Hawaiian shirt and then proceeded
to improve his European record
of 47.12 in the 400m hurdles on
Saturday.
Returning to the scene of his
world title winning exploits in
2017 and competing in a London
Stadium bathed in sunshine, the
23-year-old blasted around the
circuit to go No.7 on the all-time
world rankings as he improved his
continental mark of 47.33.
Only world record-holder Kevin
Young, with 46.78 from 1992, plus
Abderrahman Samba, Ed Moses,
Rai Benjamin, Bryan Bronson andSamuel Matete have run quicker,
although Warholm believes he can
go faster later this summer.
With Samba and Benjamin
in such good form this year, the
men’s 400m hurdles final in Doha
will be one of the races of the
championships later this year – and
Young’s 27-year-old world record is
surely in danger.“I always try to surprise but at
the same time it’s not a given,”
said Warholm, who beat Yasmani
Copello (48.93) into second. “It takes
hard work, dedication and a lot for
me to get out those extraordinary
times. I feel really good, but at the
same time it’s a long time until the
championships. I’ll try to do my own
thing. Do what I think is the best.”Euro record for Warholm
Karsten Warholm:
European record
in the 400m
hurdles