Two of the greatest 400m hurdlers in track and field history lit the track on fire in the open 400m at the European Athletics Indoor Championships on Saturday.
Femke Bol and Karsten Warholm took home championship wins in the open 400, with Bol running a winning time of 49.85 and Warholm running a winning time of 45.35, respectively.
Bol has been on a roll this indoor season in the open 400m. She entered into the race as the favorite, and did not disappoint.
“Coming to Istanbul with a world record, I could feel that everybody wanted me to go even faster, and expected that I could,” Bol said to World Athletics after the race. “Unfortunately, it is harder than it might look. I have multiple European titles, but the world title is still missing. The world record is step one.”
Bol is the world record holder in the indoor 400m with her time of 49.26. She set that record back in February.
Warholm’s race was much closer than Bol, as the world record holder in the 400m hurdles, as he held off Julien Watrin of Belgium to win the race.
“It just hit me like a wall,” he told World Athletics after the race. “With this, you never know what is going to come. I was just fighting my ass off to save myself and I am very happy it was gold today.” With another European title in the bag, Warholm said he is “very much looking forward” to the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23, saying he has “some things to defend there.”
