Norwegian sprinter Karsten Warholm broke the long-standing world record in the men's 400m hurdles in front of a home crowd at the Diamond League track and field athletics meeting in Oslo on Thursday.
The 29-year-old record of Kevin Young was finally broken with an official time of 46.70s. The American's mark of 46.78 seconds was set at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. It was the longest-standing record in the men's track.
Despite this achievement, the two-times world champion Warholm is clearly not in the mood to slow down until Tokyo 2020. "It might take another world record to win the Olympics," Sky Sports quoted Norwegian as a saying. "There are such a lot of great guys out there at the moment who will all be aiming to do it and win gold."
"I knew that I had a fast time in my body - it feels like it has been there for a long time but you never know when it is right to do it. And it is one thing to have it in you and another to go out and do it." Warholm, 25, now owns seven of the top 15 times in history.
This world record will now set up an intriguing match-up at the Monaco Diamond League meeting where both Warholm and rival Rai Benjamin of the USA are scheduled to go head-to-head on July 9.
The record comes after the women's 400m world record was also recently broken by the USA's Sydney McLaughlin at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials.
The 21-year-old recorded a time of 51.90 seconds and became the first-ever woman to break the 52-second barrier as she completed a superb strategical race against the previous record-holder Dalilah Muhammad.
( With inputs from ANI )
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