Caught by his rivals, Norwegian world record holder Karsten Warholm must surpass himself: “It’s up to me to raise my level.”
Longtime king of the 400m hurdles, Karsten Warholm remains extremely fast but can no longer defeat his two rivals in the “Big Three”. In Zurich, the world record holder will try today this Thursday evening to end a run of five defeats against Alison dos Santos.
The question initially elicits an ashamed smile from him. ” It’s a good question. Which i hate to answer it, obviously. ” For years, people asked others how they planned to defeat Karsten Warholm. On Wednesday, the question was how the Norwegian intended to finally get to better of Alison dos Santos this Thursday evening in Zurich. Because now it’s up to him to find a way out.
Since his breakthrough and first world title in the year 2017 , the 30-year-old athlete has redefined the sport, which he added two more world titles (2019, 2023), racking up titles and victories – including 18 consecutive wins between the year May 2019 and September 2021 – culminating in his world record in the Tokyo Olympic final (45.94 seconds). This was a time when the focus was primarily on how his competitors tried to keep up.
A shift in the balance of power has indeed occurred within the “Big Three” since the year 2024. Lose at home in Oslo that year by Alison dos Santos and then in Monaco by Rai Benjamin, Warholm failed to repeat his Olympic gold medal performance at the Paris match (finishing second position ). That was the last time he had defeated the Brazilian, against whom he still leads 12-7 in head-to-head record matches, but he has lost the last five matches, including Sunday’s encounter in Chorzow, Poland , by nine hundredths of a second. As for the American, the Norwegian hasn’t beaten him since the the year 2023 World Championship final (in five races).
“There are three of us who are really pushing the limits,” Warholm pointed out . “We regularly run under 47 seconds time. I think the public ends up taking that for granted a bit, because it’s an extremely difficult performance to accomplish. People perhaps underestimate the current level of the men’s 400-meter hurdles game. ”
The three men share the thirty fastest times in history, ahead of Kevin Young’s previous world record title (46.78 seconds in the year 1992). This era where sub-47-second times are commonplace was, of course, this was created by Warholm himself. And he is now suffering the consequences.
This year is undoubtedly one of my best seasons competition if you look at the times, ” he noted. “But I’m still being beaten in more races than before. I need to raise my level. ” This is the paradox for the Norwegian. “ Before, I only needed to run 46.9 seconds to win. Now, I have to run under 46.5 seconds. The times have changed. ” In reality, Warholm hasn’t be defeat so much ground as the sport has continued to progress under his leadership.
