Next up for Karsten Warholm? 400m record with no hurdles and finishing model Hogwarts

In the pantheon of greatest Olympic moments, Karsten Warholm's 400m hurdles world-record at the Tokyo 2020 Games is right up there with Jesse Owens, Flo-Jo, Michael Johnson, and Usain Bolt.

The Norwegian clocked 45.94 seconds at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium - a full 0.76s inside his own record of 46.70 set back in July.

His iconic reaction will live long in Olympic folklore too: The scream, the shirt ripped open like Superman - a new Olympic superhero.

"This is the greatest race in Olympic history, it’s undeniable,” second-placed Rai Benjamin said afterwards, "I don’t even think Bolt’s 9.64 can beat that. I ran 46.1 and lost."

Michael Johnson called it “one of the most impressive performances in the history of the sport."

"It's by far the biggest moment of my life," Warholm told Olympics.com afterwards, still walking on air. "This is the feeling I had when I was six years old on Christmas eve, but I never get that feeling as I got older... yesterday I had it and it was special."

Having achieved all of his track goals, it would be understandable if Warholm decided to leave the sport behind. He could comfortably dedicate himself instead to a quiet life of Lego construction, or boat building, or reindeer husbandry, or chopping wood topless in the snow, or raking in the appearance fees, for example.

But at 25, he knows he still has a lot to give: "Now I've just got to set myself new goals because I don't feel like I'm done yet."

So what are those new goals?

Read on to find out and relive his immortal Olympic moment in Tokyo below:

Can Warholm break 400m Euro record AND finish model Hogwarts?

Reigning Olympic champion, double World champion, two world records and European champion, but the Norwegian sensation is furious with himself!

Why?

His latest Lego project has hit a brick wall, and his model of Harry Potter's castle-like school Hogwarts remains unfinished.

“I’ve been lazy the last couple of months,” he told The Times on 22 August 2021.

Previously, he completed replicas of Manchester United Football Club stadium Old Trafford, London's Tower Bridge, and the Disney castle. But his new project might have to wait a little longer as Warholm's new sporting goal will take priority this season.

He'll take on the hurdle-free 400m at a star-studded Diamond League meet in Lausanne on Thursday (August 26), aiming to take down the current European record which stands at 44.33.

Warholm's 400 free personal best is 44.87, so would you bet against him bringing the magic?

Karsten Warholm: Sweating champagne

“I was trying to have a holiday but the curse of being an athlete is that you start to feel real bad when you wake up on Sunday sweating champagne,” he continued to The Times.

“That’s not good. Man, it’s time to get back on the horse.”

Warholm will only be 28 at Paris 2024, so could we see him do a 400m/400 hurdles double? Is Olympic champ Steven Gardiner's reign in peril?

Maybe not quite yet, but 'The Flying Viking' is also no stranger to the 400 flat. He set the Norwegian junior record at 46.31 back in 2014, won silver at the Euro juniors in 2015 timing 46.50, and won silver at the Euro U23s in 45.75s.

He tried to race in both at the 2018 Europeans, but it didn't exactly go to plan. He finished in eight place in the 400m, before winning the 400 hurdles with a time of 47.64.

Three years out from Paris, his focus is still going to be on one of the greatest sporting rivalries on the planet right now, between himself and Rai Benjamin in the hurdles, but don't rule out an unprecedented double bid.

Beyond his 400m flat ambitions there's plenty to plan for already:

The Diamond League, the July 2022 Worlds in Eugene, the Europeans a month later in August 2022 in Munich, and the Paris 2024 Olympics, which happen only three years after the Tokyo Games due to the pandemic postponement.

Karsten Warholm 400: What keeps him motivated?

Warholm loves the training, loves his team, and loves his coach.

In fact, he gets a thrill out of working hard and surpassing limits that only he can set. Then there's the famous relationship he has with his coach Leif Olav Alnes, probably now the most famous in athletics.

"My coach is my best friend," he tweeted back in 2019, "it’s like we’re the same age mentally – whatever age that is," he shared with Spikes.

"Last year he told me I was too fat and I said “you are too fat as well” so both of us lost weight. He started eating a lot of vegetables and almost no meat, and I started to not eat as much candy and drink less beer – it worked out pretty well for both of us."

This duo train six days a week, then they even relax together too.

"We hang out and eat together," Warholm revealed to Insider in June. "He has a Jacuzzi in his garden, which we use on the recovery days on Sundays. We just talk and have fun."

Between that father-son-type relationship and his tight-knit team of training partners in Norway, the Olympic champ is kept grounded, entertained, and most of all, motivated.

"When I’m all alone with my coach and training mates and I reach another level. That’s when it’s most special," he tells The Times.

"The winning and competition is just where it counts, another sort of thrill."

And there are plenty of thrills yet to come from Karsten Warholm.