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Popular victory again for Warholm
Olympic and world champion, Karsten Warholm pleased the crowds again with an emphatic 400m hurdles victory, clocking 47.57.
The 27-year-old Norwegian – the Stockholm winner in 2017, 2019 and 2020 – built on his world-leading 46.52 in Oslo a fortnight ago to finish comfortably ahead of Olympic and world fourth-place finisher, Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands (48.94).
“I felt very good before the start but the conditions made it a little bit more challenging – but I felt I had to get in and had to post another good time, so I am very pleased,” Warholm explained.
“I am 100 percent exactly where I want to be, I am in a good position now – I am running fast times so I think I actually have never felt better in my career, so we continue.
“To run the records – that is something I want to do. Of course I want to hold the world record, I want to break it myself a couple of times but it is going to be tough because the time that I ran in Tokyo is really good, but I think I can really do better.
“I have to say thanks to all the people coming out there tonight because it has been a really rainy day. It is awesome that the people are coming out there and that was also the reason I wanted to put in a good performance.
“For me, it is going to now be about continuing to stay injury free, to be able to train well and post these good times. I am looking forward to all the races and hopefully to defend my title.”
800m win for Sedjati
World silver medalist, Djamel Sedjati was the winner of the 800m, with the 24-year-old Algerian clocking 1:44.59 after recent third and fourth place finishes in Doha and Paris, respectively.
Spain’s Saul Ordonez – the 2018 world indoor bronze medalist – registered a 1:44.67 season’s best for second position.
Sedjati said afterwards: “Today was a good competition for me but the weather conditions disturbed me a lot. But the most important thing is that I won. Next up is Monaco. I am ready for Budapest and my main goal is to win gold at the World Championships.”