Norway’s Karsten Warholm stormed to a record fourth European 400m hurdles title in Birmingham on Friday.
Warholm equalled German Harald Schmid’s haul of three European 400m hurdles titles when he won in a then-championship record of 46.98sec in Rome and the fourth podium-topping performance here saw him move out as sole record holder. Warholm also holds the 35 fastest times in history by a European 400m hurdler, including a season’s best of 46.61sec for victory in the London Diamond League last month.
Warholm, who set the 400m hurdles world record of 45.94 seconds when winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, clocked a championship record of 46.63sec for victory at Alexander Stadium.
“Honestly this is the reason I do it, to come out in front of people and repeat it,” he said. “This was a fast one, so thank you.”
A third gold beckons should the 30-year-old feature for the Norwegian men’s team in the 4x400m relay that brings the curtain down on these championships on Sunday.
