Karsten Warholm a force of nature

Karsten Warholm wont die wondering. This is a man completely committed to his cause and it doesnt need an expert observer to recognise this most elemental of athletes transfers every ounce of his being to the track. 

Exhibit A: the 400m final at this years European Indoor Championships in Istanbul. The man who is best known for being the 400m hurdles world record-breaking Olympic champion is pretty useful over the flat, too, and was the undoubted favourite to take gold. 

He wasnt about to start playing the percentages, though, and catapulted himself out of the blocks like a man possessed. The first half was covered in a near suicidal 20.84 (an outright 200m PB), with the second lap clocked at a considerably more painful 24.51 as the lactic swept through his body and he tumbled across the line with the competition closing in. When he got to his feet, though, Warholm had finished as the champion. 

As athletics writer Cathal Dennehy observed at the time: Karsten Warholm is the most violent runner Ive ever seen. Its like he hates the track with every step. The athlete in question smiles and has a little laugh to himself at the memory of that final. He knows it wasnt a race run by the book, but wheres the fun in that?

Warholm is one of the most refreshing athletes to be found on the international circuit. Ask for his opinion on something and he will give it. Theres no skirting around any issue, rather a head-on approach which mirrors his running style. We start with that distinctive, violent operating style. Its a description with which he doesnt disagree and points to it being the very foundation for his considerable success.

To be honest, I think there are a lot of athletes around the world that have bigger natural potential than myself, says the two-time world champion. I think its easy when you see a very gifted, talented runner who has all these things naturally, but me? Its something I have created over the years with training.

Its always been me running because I really want to win, I really want to achieve and its all this willpower going into my stride. Yes, I think its violent. Its not something that I do on purpose but thats the way I get out my speed and I think, from the first step, for me its a battle to win.

When the gun goes, there are no jokes for me anymore. This is all the hours that I put in.

I just run with a lot of aggression, but it works well for me.

It is indeed an important point to make that such a relentlessly forceful template would not work for most athletes, yet for Warholm it does come with some important benefits. 

A lot of athletes have tried my spike, but they cant bend the [carbon] plate [within the shoe] its the way Im pushing with every step. Thats why I can have probably the stiffest carbon plate in the game, because theres so much power in each step.

It doesnt always look technically out of the schoolbook but its the way that I run the fastest and I dont want to change that.

And with that we veer towards the next subject, which can be a touchy one in athletics circles: footwear. Some distance athletes have become increasingly willing to discuss the role being played by the rapid advances in shoe technology on the roads, but that is not necessarily a situation being replicated by track competitors when it comes to their spikes. 

Warholm, again, is an exception. He made headlines in the aftermath of his extraordinary Tokyo gold medal-winning run by calling Nikes super spikes bull***t at a time when the American super brand were still very clear leaders in the technological race. 

The landscape has shifted, though, and Warholm has worked very closely with sponsors Puma to develop his current competition footwear. He now sees the battle between the brands as a positive step for the sport. 

He isnt about to pretend the tools of his trade dont make a difference, though, and theres a reminder of his willingness to poke fun at himself, too, given that his Naio Nitro Elite spikes are adorned by a logo which reads #BS.

I think Im the only athlete thats actually been honest about what shoes bring to the game but its a game changer for sure. But now I have the best shoe so I dont care, he grins.

I was really stressed about this before going to Tokyo because you saw all of these prototypes coming up and nobody had control. The athletes didnt have control, a lot of brands werent on top of it and I even think that it came as a surprise to Word Athletics.

Now its open. Puma has given me great opportunities to make a shoe. I find it very interesting and I like to work with it but I will never say that the shoe doesnt matter anymore because we are already past that point.

How much does it matter? I dont know and I think its very individual. Some shoes work on some people, some shoes dont work on others. I have a very stiff plate and if I can bend that plate Ill get a lot of energy out of it thats how the physics works but if you were in my shoe you would probably just pull your Achilles or your calf and you wouldnt get anything out of it.

He continues: In the beginning, I was just p****d because I didnt have the shoes! But now every brand has had a couple of years to get into it and I think its good for the sport that a lot of brands find this as a competition between themselves.

I wont say that everything is bad. Im just saying lets not live in denial.

Warholm would also like to see a change in attitude when it comes to the next subject of our conversation. There is a recurring discussion in elite athletics about getting more exposure and money for the sport and its top names, that those at the very sharp end are hard done by in comparison with other sports. 

The two-time European champion can understand the grumbles of discontent but insists the best way for athletes to change the situation is to work on doing something about it themselves.  

I dont think our sport is in as such bad shape as some people say and I also think that, whenever people are complaining, it doesnt make the sport more sexy, does it? he says. Whenever somebody complains: Oh people arent giving me money do you think somebody will just come with a big bag of money and give it to you? 

Youve got to step up and show what you can bring to the table and I think theres a lot of great personality in the sport right now and there are a lot of cool meetings. The Diamond Leagues go to a lot of cool places, the World Championships are popular and whenever theres track and field in the Olympics its sold out. 

If theres one thing I would stop doing its complaining. If we stop complaining and start doing something about it, we actually have a chance. It needs to be an interesting product.

He cites his own event as a prime example. Its not so long ago, Warholm says, that the 400m hurdles was being considered as one of the events to be dropped from the Diamond League circuit when there was a reshuffle of the disciplines back in 2019. However, his exploits, not to mention those of womens world record-holder Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Dutch star Femke Bol, have turned hurdling into a marquee event once more. 

The 400m hurdles was in that [Diamond League] discussion and now they wouldnt throw it out for anything, adds Warholm. That just shows that interest is created and its not going to be a constant and I think we need to bring that with us and create interesting projects.