The 400m hurdles will be one of the most eagerly awaited races at Bislett tomorrow evening.
The three-time World Champion and Tokyo Olympic champion, Karsten Warholm has had a successful indoor season with a silver medal in the flat 400m in the World Indoors in Glasgow.
Asked about his world record performance in Tokyo, he said: “You always want more, and it is all about making winning a habit. But you have to work for it and keep on improving as the competition also gets better.
“It is three years since I won now so I don’t think about it every day, but I always strive to win again.”
The local hero will look to make the most of the home crowd and hope to be running in his favoured outside lane.
About Bislett he said: “Bislett is the place I like to perform at my best; I train all year round here, so it feels like home; the crowd are amazing, and I have such great memories of the place.”
After becoming world champion in 2022 in Eugene, Alison dos Santos struggled with injury last year, but he has made a spectacular start to this season winning the Doha Diamond League in 46.86.
He is delighted to be here in Bislett: “I am delighted to be here and especially to be healthy again. It is so exciting to be running in Karsten’s home! We both have the same mentality which is to win. I hope there will be a few here from other countries who will cheer for me.”
British Virgin Island’s Kyron McMaster, silver medallist from Budapest World Championships last year and USA’s CJ Allen, who took second to Warholm at the Bislett Games last year, will be the main rivals tomorrow evening.
Huge home star, Jakob Ingebrigtsen is on the comeback trail from injury and Oslo eagerly anticipates his appearance.
The 23-year-old Olympic and two-time world champion revealed:
"It's definitely good to be back racing - I had to miss so much this winter through injury. The first race was always going to be difficult, but it gave me some good feedback. Injuries are a big part of an athlete’s life so it's very good to be healthy now - it's the reward for all the hours of hard work I've put in.”
A nine-time European champion, Ingebrigtsen won the 1500m at Bislett last year and the mile event in 2022:
“The race here was so good last year so I hope it will be again tomorrow - it will be a good race with such a high level field. It's my favourite meeting so I'm excited.”
Determined to retain his Olympic 100m crown in Paris, Italian Lamont Marcell Jacobs also has the big target of claiming glory at next month’s European championships in Rome.
In tomorrow’s 100m, he faces in-form Jeremiah Azu of GB who ran a PB of 9.97 in Germany last week and the ever-young Yohan Blake of Jamaica.
“It was incredible to win Olympic gold and then the relay gold six days later for Italy - there were incredible emotions on the streets back home and now I want to win again (in Paris),” the 29-year-old recalled.
“The past two years have been difficult for me - I’ve had to work on my body and particularly my mental strength a lot but now, I’ve changed coach and moved to the US so I’m ready. I just need to make more adjustments and compete more to get sharp - the event is really open this year and I want to retain my title.
“Rome is an important test for me so tomorrow is about putting the last pieces together so I can win for my country next month. I will try to find my best technique and have fun tomorrow."
In the 5000m, Tokyo Olympic Champion Joshua Cheptegei will look to build on his solid start to the season. After a modest sixth at the World Cross Country in Belgrade, he ran a 12:52.38 in Los Angeles earlier this month.
The three-times world champion is looking forward to his second time in Bislett; “Last year I missed it and watched the race wishing I was here. I am still in love with the track, and I wasn’t tactically at my best in my first race, but I will be at my best for Paris. My target is the 10k as I don’t have an Olympic 10k title, but I will try for the double.
“Tomorrow is all about getting the fire back and starting to build momentum for Paris.”
The 200m women’s race will be another highlight tomorrow. World Champion Sharika Jackson continued her impressive form of recent years with her season debut in Rabat Diamond League earlier this month.
On her second visit to Bislett she said, “I am loving it here so far, the weather is beautiful.”
Tomorrow she will hope to edge closer to her PB of 21.41 from the Budapest World Championships. She added, “Of course my goal this year is the Olympic gold. I was very close to the world record winning in Budapest and I have a good feeling that I can get even closer this year and break it by the end of the season. Tomorrow my goal will be the win and a season’s best as I build towards the Jamaican trials next month.”
Her competition is likely to come from Briton’s Daryll Neita, who started her season in style winning the Suzhou Diamond League in 22:62, and Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith making her 200m debut for the season.
Man of the moment in the discus is Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna following his outstanding 74:35m world record in Oklahoma last month.
The 21-year-old - who improved the 38-year-old global best - is a world bronze medallist and this summer hopes to take a second continental title before Olympic glory.
"The world record was an incredible achievement - I was really happy to break such an old record, it's amazing,” Alekna explained.
“My goal of course is to win the gold medal and try not to think about the pressure on myself, which is working well so far."
Alekna will face Sweden’s Olympic and world champion, Daniel Stahl - the winner here in 2017 and 2021.
The 31-year-old said:
"My plan is to continue to work hard and do as many meetings as I can. I'm happy such an old world record was beaten - everybody is on fire this year so it's exciting to compete against them here.
“I have no pressure on me now - I've won the Olympics and World’s, so my goal is to go to Paris and enjoy it. Tomorrow will be like a Swedish summer - plenty of rain but it will be show-time!”
Para athletes set to kickstart Bislett
The Bislett press conference kicked off outside a sunny Bislett Stadium ahead of the traditional ‘strawberry party’ on Wednesday evening with the spotlight on the Flytoget 100m Para Race, which provides a unique opportunity to see world-class Para athletes competing ahead of the Paris Paralympic Games later this year.
It is the third year in a row that the Oslo Diamond League has included a Para sprint race in the programme. The event tomorrow welcomes athletes across the three classifications and from four different countries.
Straight off the plane from his T13 World Para Athletics Championship bronze medal-winning performance in Kobe, Japan, Salum Kashafali was full of gratitude on the eve of the race:
“This race means a lot to me, I’m proud to be here,” revealed the Norwegian star.
“It means a lot to be able to showcase our sport and what we’re capable of doing against each other.”
The 30-year-old visually impaired 2021 Paralympic champion and 2023 World Para Champion has a great affinity to the Oslo track, having set a T12 world record of 10.45 at the 2019 Bislett Games - which he improved on later that year to 10.37.
American Nick Mayhugh has also just returned from Kobe and, for the first time in his career, was unable to take home a medal after a seventh place in the T38 100m and fourth in the 400m. The double Paralympic gold medallist from Tokyo said, “After Kobe I went home to reset, had two good sessions with my coach, saw my mum and puppy, and now feel ready to go again. Tomorrow provides the perfect opportunity to do so, in a sold-out stadium. There will always be bumps in the road and it is better to have it before Paris [the Paralympics].
He added, “The format of tomorrow’s race brings great exposure to our sport and the more visibility we get to show we are elite athletes the better.”
Great Britain’s Zac Shaw, who is visually impaired and competes as a T12 athlete, agreed, “Inclusion at Diamond League events is crucial to our sport and to show what Paralympic athletes, men and women, can do. Oslo is one event that has done this for a few years and led the way. We need other events to follow suit.
Fresh from a bronze individual and relay silver medal at the Worlds Shaw added, “Everyone is tomorrow’s race has run sub-11 but we also all competed in Kobe so may be a bit jet lagged. But it should be a great race and wide open. We will all want the victory.”
Having recently claimed two silver medals in Kobe (in the T64 100m and T62 400m) Hunter Woodhall of the USA was understandably in a confident mood:
“It’s awesome to be racing here - only a few of the Diamond Leagues put on Para races so it’s an important opportunity to face each other and a fun way to showcase Para athletics,” explained the 10.85 double leg amputee sprinter.
A Paralympic 400m bronze medallist at the 2021 Games, Woodhall - who is married to world indoor long jump champion, Tara Davis-Woodhall – continued, “Tomorrow is such a good opportunity to get a feel for an extremely high level of competition and to dial into our race strategy, so I’m very excited and happy to be here.”
Local Para-athlete, Vegard Sverd, T13, will be looking for home support. After a bronze in the long jump in Kobe in his first international event, he is very excited by the company in tomorrow’s line-up for the 100m. “These mix classification races can provide a real showcase of what we can do and help promote the sport.”
By Nicola Bamford and Carol Austin
