{"id":18635,"date":"2022-07-19T01:47:43","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T01:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/world-track-and-field-championships-updates-and-results\/"},"modified":"2022-07-19T01:47:43","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T01:47:43","slug":"world-track-and-field-championships-updates-and-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/world-track-and-field-championships-updates-and-results\/","title":{"rendered":"World Track and Field Championships: Updates and Results"},"content":{"rendered":"
Karsten Warholm remembers two things about the moment everything changed \u2014 in that magical race, in his career and in his life.<\/p>\n
This was just before the last hurdle and the mad 30-meter dash to the finish of the 400-meter hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics. He glimpsed his rival, Rai Benjamin, suddenly closing on his left shoulder. Exhausted and running out of oxygen, he began to see stars. And then, in an instant, Benjamin was gone, and Warholm was crossing the finish line to win the gold medal for Norway, a rarity for a country far better known for winter sports, salmon and oil wealth.<\/p>\n
Both Warholm and Benjamin broke the previous world record that day, turning their rematch Tuesday night into a can’t-miss event at this week’s World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. Warholm shook off concerns about a recent hamstring tear and blazed into the finals along with Benjamin on Sunday, when both won their semifinal heats. Together, they are giving 400-meter hurdles a stature it has not had since Edwin Moses was cruising to 122 consecutive victories in the race in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
For all his stardom, though, Moses did not have a singular rival throughout his career the way the 26-year-old Warholm does in Benjamin, who is 24. Warholm and Benjamin also finished one-two, and in the same order, at the last world championships. While they are friendly off the track, theirs is now a duel as intense as the Viking roar Warholm lets out as he beats his upper chest, just below his shoulders, before loading into the blocks to start each race. It’s a rivalry the sport desperately needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe trains in the US; I train in Norway. He’s Nike; He I’m Puma,\u201d Warholm said in a recent interview from his home in Oslo. \u201cHe is fighting for his first gold medal. I’m trying to defend my territory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, about that roar and chest thump.<\/p>\n
Warholm said the ritual began in training in Oslo. Because the country is so small (roughly 5.4 million people) and track is something of an afterthought, well behind Nordic skiing, he has never had any competition. His coach and a few female quarter-milers are the extent of his daily company in training.<\/p>\n
That meant he had to find a way to juice his adrenaline before a training heat. He tried the roar and chest thump one day and liked it.<\/p>\n
He used to whack himself a little lower on his torso. Then, a trainer informed him that pounding on his heart just before a quarter-mile sprint was a terrible idea. He listened and raised the point of contact but continued to pound. The sound of his fist hitting his flesh can echo through the lower bowl of a track stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of power that goes into it,\u201d Warholm said.<\/p>\n
Roars and chest thumps may not be enough for Warholm to overcome his latest obstacle, though. In June, at his opening 400-meter-hurdles race of the season, Warholm pulled up with a hamstring injury after the first hurdle. Since then, he and his coach, Leif Alnes, have thought about little else except trying to be healthy for the world-championship rematch with Benjamin.<\/p>\n
When Warholm pulled up in that race in Rabat, Morocco, Alnes was relieved that his prized student did not crumple to the ground, which often happens with a severe hamstring tear. That said, the 400-meter hurdles is basically a sprint, and in sprinting, 99 percent healthy is not enough. If Warholm isn’t at 100 percent, he won’t run.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always say, if you don’t have time to do it the right way right now, then when will you have time,\u201d Alnes said in a recent interview. \u201cWe have to be wise. This is not a decision that can be based on emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n