Norway’s Karsten Warholm has won his second European Indoor Championships 400m title, finishing in 45.35 seconds in a thrilling finale on Saturday (4) at the Ataköy Arena in Istanbul. This victory comes after his gold medal performance in Glasgow in 2019.
Meanwhile, world record holder Femke Bol ran away with the women’s event, clocking another sub-50 seconds indoors after crossing the finish line at 49.85 seconds. – Read more: Femke Bol strolls into 400m semis – European Indoor Championships
Karsten Warholm Starts Fast And Almost Blew It!
Warholm, the Olympic 400m hurdles champion, set a blistering pace, completing the opening lap in just 20.84 seconds and reaching the 300m mark in 32.32 seconds.
However, the quick start took its toll on the Norwegian athlete, who slowed down significantly towards the end, just managing to fend off Julien Watrin, who claimed his first individual medal at the European Indoor Championships after passing Sweden’s Carl Bengtstrom.
“I was stupid fast today, I think,” said Warholm after the race. “I do not know if you saw it, but I felt lactic acid in the last 100, so I had to fight all the way through. It just hit me like a wall.”
Watrin set a new Belgian national record, finishing in 45.44 seconds, while Bengtstrom claimed bronze to add to his World Indoor bronze medal from 2022.
Meanwhile, Femke Bol of the Netherlands, the world record holder, dominated the women’s 400m race with a time of 49.85 seconds.
Bol, who owns the world record at 49.26 seconds, led from the start, going through the first lap at 23.78 seconds. She held off a challenge from training partner Lieke Klaver to win back-to-back European Indoor Championships titles.
Klaver, the fourth-place finisher at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon last summer, finished with a time of 50.57 seconds, taking home the silver medal.
Anna Kiełbasińska of Poland claimed the bronze medal with a season-best time of 51.25 seconds. Susanne Walli of Austria finished in fourth place with a time of 51.73 seconds, setting a new national record.
Reporting by Miranda Mitchell, World-Track
