Karsten Warholm

The 400m hurdles world record holder — his Tokyo 2020 performance is the greatest single track performance in history.

Karsten Warholm was born in Ulsteinvik, Norway in 1996. His performance in the 400-metre hurdles at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics — running 45.94 seconds to break the world record by over half a second — is considered the greatest single performance in track athletics history measured by the margin of improvement. He also won the World Championship three times. His rivalry with American Rai Benjamin and Irishman Thomas Barr at major championships has produced the fastest 400 hurdles races in history on multiple occasions. His personality — exuberant, colourful, trained in Norway where distance running rather than sprinting is the traditional discipline — made him one of athletics' most entertaining personalities. His 45.94 at Tokyo has not been approached since — the gap between his record and the second-fastest performance is wider than in almost any other track event. He suffered injury disruption after Tokyo but returned to win medals at subsequent championships.

Aggressive fast-start technique with exceptional speed

Revolutionary hurdler who broke 400m hurdles world record

• Olympic Gold 400m hurdles (2021)
• World Record 45.94 (Tokyo)
• World Championships 3x
• European Championships 2x