Karsten Warholm won the men’s 400 metres hurdles at Birmingham 2026 in 46.63 seconds.
The Norwegian’s performance set a new championship record. Warholm is one of the greatest 400-metre hurdlers in history and holds the world record, so his Birmingham victory reinforced his position as the event’s leading European athlete.
The 400-metre hurdles requires competitors to complete one lap while clearing ten barriers. The race combines sprint speed with highly controlled stride patterns, because athletes must preserve enough energy to maintain rhythm over the final straight.
Warholm’s result was one of eleven championship records established during the Birmingham meeting. Other record-setting performances included Armand Duplantis’s 6.15-metre pole vault, Andreas Almgren’s 27:23.44 in the men’s 10,000 metres and Kristjan Čeh’s 72.51-metre discus throw.
Warholm also helped Norway win the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay on the opening night. He ran the first leg of that race, making Birmingham especially productive for the Norwegian hurdler and his national team.