Warholm brings Oslo to its feet with record performance

Warholm clocked 47.33sec, beating the old mark of 47.37sec set by France's Stephane Diagana at Lausanne in 1995.

Published : Jun 14, 2019 09:30 IST

Karsten Warholm broke the 24-year-old European 400m hurdles record. (File Photo)
Karsten Warholm broke the 24-year-old European 400m hurdles record. (File Photo)
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Karsten Warholm broke the 24-year-old European 400m hurdles record. (File Photo)

Norway's Karsten Warholm brought his home Oslo crowd to its feet on Thursday when he broke the 24-year-old European 400m hurdles record.

Warholm clocked 47.33sec, beating the old mark of 47.37sec set by France's Stephane Diagana at Lausanne in 1995.

Warholm, 23, finished a long way ahead of Ireland's Thomas Barr (49.11) and Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands (49.12).

"It's been a long time," 1997 world champion Diagana said of the Norwegian who has run under 48 seconds five times in the last year.

"I knew he would beat my record. I like his way of attacking running. Being just 23, he can dream of better things."

American sprinter Christian Coleman, meanwhile, stormed to the best 100m time of the year at the Diamond League meeting in the Norwegian capital.

Coleman timed 9.85sec with Xie Zhenye of China in second spot in 10.01sec and fellow American Michael Rodgers in third with a time of 10.04.

Until Thursday, Coleman had shared a season best of 9.86sec with compatriot Noah Lyles and Divine Oduduru of Nigeria.

Russia's Mariya Lasitskene, a two-time Olympic champion, dominated the women's high jump with 2.01m, a best for the season and her first height over 2m in 2019.

It was her 34th career win against just one loss since the Rio Olympics of 2016, a tournament from which she was barred along with the entire Russian track and field team in the fall-out from the country's state-sponsored doping scandal.

The 24-year-old's win came just three days after she called on officials implicated in the ongoing controversy at home to reform or quit.

"All of these people think that athletes don't see or understand anything, and their business is only to jump and keep quiet," Lasitskene wrote in an unusually exasperated Instagram post.

"I hope that people implicated in this never-ending shame spectacle find the courage to quit."

American 19-year-old teenager Sydney McLaughlin won the women's 400m hurdles in 54.16 with Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad in second in 54.35.

World championship silver medallist Shamier Little, also of the United States, was third in 54.92.

In the men's pole vault, Sam Kendricks of the United States triumphed with 5.91m ahead of Sweden's Armand Duplantis and Poland's Piotr Lisek, two of his main rivals for world championship gold in Qatar later this year.

The reigning world champion posted his winning height on his third attempt before failing at 6.01m.

World record holder Renaud Lavillenie did not take part opting to return from a long-standing injury on Friday at a low-key event on home soil at Pierre-Bénite in France.

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