Next stop Paris: He has a world record and two World Championship golds, was named European Athlete of the Year, played Street Fighter with the Prime Minister of Norway, and became a viral sensation.
So what is left for Karsten Warholm, who created a sensation in the 400-meter hurdles at the age of 28?
In 2021, he was selected as the best male athlete of the year by the World Athletics Association.
He was born on February 28, 1996, in Ulsteinvik, Norway. 400-meter sprint and 400-meter hurdler. He is 1.87 tall and weighs 80 kilos. If we compare it to athletics athletes, he may seem weak on paper, but he has a very muscular physique compared to his weight. He also competes for Dimna Idrettslag on a club basis.
Karsten Warholm (born 28 February 1996) is a Norwegian sprinter who competes in the 400 metres and 400 m hurdles. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic champion, a three-time world champion and the world record holder in the latter event.
Lane 7 was his luck. He thought that lane 7 always brought him luck in his races. Since he didn't have a chance to choose in tournaments, he always wished that he would be in lane number 7. His coach, Leif Olav Alnes, also thought that number 7 had a magic touch on him and Karsten.
Karsten Warholm and his coach Leif Olav Alnes were soulmates. Even though they are 39 years apart, they see each other as "best friends", so to speak. They were having a lot of fun and had been working together for 10 years, that is, since Karsten was a teenager.
As I have seen many times in people who have been involved in other sports, Karsten Warholm started his sports life by playing football. He was playing number 9 in his own region's team. There is a small critical detail in his football adventure: playing football helped him discover his speed. He directed his career from football to decathlon and from there to athletics.
He has a very fun and colorful personality. It is also very popular in his country, Norway. So much so that, according to a study, 25% of Norwegian citizens watched his race live.
He participates in talk shows, plays streetfighter in front of the screens with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, and acts in commercials...
Not every athlete can handle being such a person in front of the screen, we have seen examples of this many times, but things are not like that for Karsten. Apparently, he loves the screen and the screen loves him.
He was an avid Lego enthusiast. Especially at the beginning of the pandemic, when we were locked in our homes, he devoted himself to Legos and models. If you take a look at the Lego string in Instagram highlights, you can see this passion. He managed to model Old Trafford, Tower Bridge, and Disney Castle structures.
I suggest we stalk their numerical data a little bit. When we take a look at the gold medals in the career of Karsten Warholm, who is currently 25 years old:
European Under-23 Athletics Championships - 2017 Bydgoszcz - 400 m hurdles,
European Athletics Indoor Championships - 2019 Glasgow - 400 m,
European Athletics Championships - 2018 Berlin - 400 m hurdles,
World Athletics Championships - 2017 London - 400 m hurdles,
World Athletics Championships - 2019 Doha - 400 m hurdles,
2020 Summer Olympics - 2021 Tokyo - 400 m hurdles
We can see such successes.
He closed 2021 by shining in Tokyo and, as I mentioned at the beginning of the article, by being selected as the best male athlete of 2021.
After achieving the biggest prizes in sports, the world championship, the world record, and the Olympic gold, what is left now?
"When you count that way, there's nothing left," Warholm says with a laugh. "But at the same time, I think next best is the best. For me, it's important to always chase success. I think that's why we're in this business, to see how good we can be." and to be able to say that we made the most of our potential on the day we retire.”
Retirement is out of the question. "Hopefully in five or 10 years, I'll still be as passionate as I am today. It doesn't have to be the 400-meter hurdles, but it has to be something that moves me." “I need to feel like I'm making progress and doing something I enjoy, which is probably the most important thing in life,” he says.
Next stop Paris
"I could lose all the other races to win in Paris," Warholm says, "But at the same time, this is my third Olympics."