Events & Meetings

Warholm primed to add to his title haul over 400m in Glasgow

Home
  • News
  • Warholm primed to add to his title haul over 400m in Glasgow

The Glasgow 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships didn’t feature in Karsten Warholm’s initial plans - not even after he broke his Norwegian record with 45.56 when he headlined his home event - the Karsten Warholm International - in his hometown of Ulsteinvik at the end of January.

But Warholm announced on social media last week that he will be coming to Glasgow after all and he will be looking to win the 400m title on his debut appearance in a major indoor championships.

 

Warholm is the reigning world and European 400m hurdles champion but the Norwegian also leads the 2019 European list by a significant distance in his secondary event. He is the only European to have broken the 46 second-barrier in 2019 - something he has achieved twice in his two competitive appearances this season.

Not only did Warholm break his Norwegian record on his season’s debut, he also defeated one of the greatest ever indoor exponents in Pavel Maslak from Czech Republic. After opening his season with a circumspect 47.10, Maslak has improved to 46.19 but a rematch in Glasgow won’t materialise as the Czech is a late withdrawal from the championships due to illness.

With Maslak sidelined, Warholm’s biggest threats will come from Slovenia’s Luka Janezic, who defeated Warholm at the 2017 European Athletics U23 Championships and has clocked 46.13 this year. Spain’s Oscar Husillos, who beat Maslak and everybody else at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham before being disqualified for a lane infringement, should also feature with a season’s best of 46.37.

Buoyed by the noise of the home crowd, Cameron Chalmers and Owen Smith will lead the domestic challenge in Glasgow. They have both run personal bests this winter – Chalmers with 46.26 and Smith with 46.37 – and the nation has a good history in the event with both the late Todd Bennett (1985 and 1987) and Du’aine Ladejo (1994 and 1996) both winning the title twice.

As did Ireland’s David Gillick in 2005 and 2007 and they are represented by Thomas Barr, who won bronze behind Warholm in Berlin, and Cillin Greene.

Only one of the medallists from the women’s 400m final in Belgrade returns but Poland’s Justyna Swiety-Ersetic arrives in Glasgow with two gold medals to her name from the European Championships.

Her prolific run in the 400m in 50.41 took her to victory in Berlin in August and she will be looking to upgrade on her bronze medal from two years ago when France’s Floria Guei, who will miss the entire season due to pregnancy, won the title.

Her teammate Iga Baumgart-Witan, however, leads the lists from Swiety-Ersetic – 51.91 to 52.14 – after their one-two at the Copernicus Cup in Torun and this order was repeated at the Polish Indoor Championships.

No stranger to gold herself, Baumgart-Witan was part of the Polish team which won the 4x400m title in Belgrade before joining forces with Swiety-Ersetic again to repeat in Berlin last summer.

Now lies the chance for Baumgart-Witan to win an individual title but another European champion will have a big say of her own.

Switzerland’s Lea Sprunger won the 400m hurdles crown in Berlin and she is third on the 2019 European lists with 52.19 while the arena will rock when Scotland’s Eilidh Doyle takes her position on the start line.

A triple European gold medallist – she celebrated 4x400m indoor relay glory in Gothenburg – Doyle was the 2014 European 400m hurdles champion.




Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Broadcast Partner
Broadcast Partner
Preferred Suppliers
Supporting Hotel
Photography Agency