Warholm retains 400m hurdles title at World Athletics Championships

Norway’s Karsten Warholm said he felt he was “going to die” as he held off close rival Rai Benjamin to defend his world 400m hurdles title in Doha.

The 23-year-old took the lead with 150m remaining and stayed just ahead of the American to win in 47.42 seconds, with Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba third.

 

 

Karsten Warholm (NOR) – gold

On how he’s managed to improve this season:
“I have huge respect for my opponents. Samba beat me all last year so I feel very humble to be in this company.

“But at the same time I always focus on my own journey. I don’t get stressed out by what other people do.

“Me and my coach have a plan. We work very hard to make the most of my potential and it seemed to go well for me.”

On being champion in this era of unprecedented depth:
“The biggest thing you can be is a champion. With everybody posting very good times I know there are crazy times coming and I will have to work very hard if I want to keep this thing going because these guys are going to be hunting for me. I’m not going to sleep.”

On not breaking the world record:
“To be honest I don’t care about the world record, it was only about the gold medal tonight. If I won the gold medal in one minute I would still keep it.

“The world record doesn’t concern me. I never go out with the intention to break the world record. I go out to have fun and try to win the race. Today was all about that.

“For now I am world champion and that’s all that counts.”

On the pre-race light show:
“Was there a light show? I didn’t notice because I was too focused on my race.

“It was probably cool. I will see it on TV afterwards.”

On whether he will compete in the 400m flat:
“I decided last night that I was going to go all-in for the 400m hurdles and try to defend the title. The only reason I put myself up for the 400m flat was in case I went out.

“I will have a vacation now, then go out and train harder. I don’t think it will benefit my legs to go and run more races here.”

On how he will celebrate:
“The same way I did in London 2017 – go back to my room with my coach, sit down, drink some Cola, relax and talk about all the good things we’ve done and how much we feel like we deserve this.

“Then I will go to bed with a smile on my face. That’s going to be it.

“My celebration is when I cross the finish line and the feeling I get from that. Nothing beats that.”

On his lap of honour in front of empty seats:
“There were a few Norwegians there and I said hello to them. Of course, it was something else in London when there were 60,000 people in the stands.

“At the same time, I have a gold medal. There could have been no people there and I would still be happy.”

Rai Benjamin (USA) – silver

On whether he was affected by his injury:
“It’s been a rough two weeks. I fell at practice about three weeks ago and I was unable to walk. I was on crutches. It turned out I had a pretty bad bone bruise.

“Coming into the championships I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to run. In fact, a few days before the first round I was thinking about scratching out of the entire meet.

“It’s been rough. I came out each day trying to make it through the rounds, trying to survive. Luckily I was able to come out with the silver medal.

“I think it’s just a testament to overcoming adversity at my first major championships. After this, the sky’s the limit.”

On whether he’ll run the 4x400m relay:
“Definitely. If they put me on it I’ll try and give them the best leg I can.”

Adberrahman Samba (QAT) – bronze

On his hamstring injury:
“This bronze medal is a gold medal for me. I didn’t expect to win but I ran here because it is a world championships in Qatar and I wanted to be here.

“There was no pressure on me whatsoever. I received good support from the Qatari Athetics Federation. I was prepared mentally to run.

“I got the injury before the London Diamond League when I was meant to race the 400m flat– a muscle in my back.

“It was expected to take 10 to 12 weeks to recover but luckily in nine weeks I was recovered and able to win this medal. I consider this a big achievement.”

On why he didn’t talk to the press after the first two rounds:
“I decided to wait till the end to share what had happened to me. I didn’t want to put more pressure on myself by talking about my injury.”

On whether he will compete in the 400m:
“In the future but I am not ready to run the event at these World Championships.”

POS	BIB	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	MARK	REACTION TIME
1	1491	Karsten WARHOLM	NOR	47.42	0.164
2	1867	Rai BENJAMIN	USA	47.66	0.205
3	1603	Abderrahman SAMBA	QAT	48.03	0.198
4	1149	Kyron MCMASTER	IVB	48.10 SB	0.171
5	1895	TJ HOLMES	USA	48.20 PB	0.193
6	1772	Yasmani COPELLO	TUR	48.25 SB	0.177
7	328	Alison DOS SANTOS	BRA	48.28 PB	0.208
8	105	Abdelmalik LAHOULOU	ALG	49.46	0.187