Karsten Warholm’s indoor campaign might be an abbreviated one but the reigning world and European 400m hurdles champion highlighted his home meeting with another record-breaking run in Ulsteinvik on Friday (25).
The 400m at the Karsten Warholm International was billed as a clash between Warholm and three-time European and world indoor champion Pavel Maslak but the Norwegian did not face much of a challenge from the world’s most dominant sprinter on the boards over the last decade.
Warholm started aggressively and reached the 200m mark in 21.53 with a healthy lead over Maslak. His advantage over the Czech doubled on the last lap as Warholm broke the tape in 45.56 with Maslak second in 47.10.
Warholm shaved 0.03 off his Norwegian indoor record and moved up one place to eighth on the European indoor all-time lists. For comparison, Warholm clocked 45.88 when he opened his season on the same track last year.
While Maslak is targeting a fourth successive title at the Glasgow 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships, Warholm is planning a quieter indoor season. It is expected he will compete at the four-way international in Baerum on 10 February before closing his campaign at the Norwegian Indoor Championships in Sandnes on 23-24 February.
There was nearly a second national record in the space of 15 minutes in the 3000m but Karoline Grovdal fell off the pace required to break Ingrid Kristiansen’s long-standing mark of 8:50.26, clocking 8:52.79 in her first race of the season.
World leading marks for Schwanitz and Duplantis
Christina Schwanitz is showing good early season shape ahead of the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow where she will be looking to reclaim the title she won in Gothenburg five years ago.
Schwanitz won the shot put with a world-leading mark of 19.16m in Erfurt but she will face tougher opposition on Saturday when the IAAF World Indoor Tour commences with the New Balance Boston Indoor Grand Prix.
European champion Armand Duplantis added one centimetre to Renaud Lavillenie’s world-leading mark in the pole vault at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas where he cleared 5.83m on his debut for Louisiana State University.
While the rest of the field exited the competition at 5.06m, Duplantis opened his account with a second time clearance at 5.46m before clearing 5.57m, 5.72m and 5.83m on his first attempts. Duplantis then had three attempts at a prospective US collegiate record of 5.92m.
2019 Lead
— LSUTrackField (@LSUTrackField) January 26, 2019
School Record
2019 NCAA No. 1
NCAA Indoor All-Time No. 3@mondohoss600 opens his @LSUTrackField career with a clearance of 5.83 meters (19-1.50)!#GeauxTigers pic.twitter.com/b8if5KvuJ1