Sydney McLaughlin does not race often, but she produces memorable performances whenever she does step on the track. Running a sizzling world record of 51.41* in the women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles on a hot afternoon at the US Championships on Saturday (25), McLaughlin has now set world records in three of her past four 400m hurdles finals.
Clearing the hurdles effortlessly and with no one pressing her, McLaughlin broke her own record of 51.46 from the Tokyo Olympics, where she captured the gold medal. McLaughlin set her first world record of 51.90 on this same track, Hayward Field in Eugene, during last year&rsquo;s US Olympic Trials and will return here next month for the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
&ldquo;I knew it was going to be fast,&rdquo; McLaughlin said. &ldquo;I looked at the time and I was really happy with it &ndash; being able to slowly progress towards lower and lower times &ndash; and I think there&rsquo;s still things I could work on. I think there&rsquo;s a little bit more in the tank there, so hopefully when it&rsquo;s time we can just empty it completely.&rdquo;
Before the three rounds of the US Championships, McLaughlin had run only twice this season: one 100m hurdles race and one 400m hurdles race, in which she clocked a world-leading 51.61 with one of the hurdles placed in the wrong position. She then withdrew from the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in New York two weeks ago to focus on the National Championships.
McLaughlin had a lead of about six metres entering the home straight and that margin had grown significantly by the time she reached the finish. NCAA champion Britton Wilson ran a PB of 53.08 for second and Shamier Little, the 2015 world silver medallist who missed the US Olympic team last year by one spot, was third with a season&rsquo;s best of 53.92.
McLaughlin was the world silver medallist in 2019 behind former world record-holder Dalilah Muhammad, who has a wildcard entry to the World Championships as defending champion and did not compete at the US Championships.
They will likely face off next month, where McLaughlin said, &ldquo;we want to put on a show for the world.&rdquo;
<h2>Norman rewrites Hayward Field record</h2>
Michael Norman posted a world-leading time of 43.56 to win the men&rsquo;s 400m, besting his own 43.60 from the Prefontaine Classic in May on the same track. He now owns the three fastest times at Hayward Field, having also run 43.61 in 2018.
Champion Allison nearly lived up to his name, finishing second with a PB of 43.70 while challenging Norman, who had to dig deep to pull away on the final stretch. Randolph Ross was third in 44.17. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62b7a92f362878d774b5717c.jpg" alt="Michael Norman in the 400m at the US Championships" />
Michael Norman in the 400m at the US Championships (&copy; Getty Images)
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 Norman has run only six races this season. &ldquo;I think I&rsquo;m in a pretty good place,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m in really good shape. I&rsquo;m excited to go back and dissect the race and figure out what areas I need to fine tune. I know it was nowhere near a perfect race.&rdquo;
Norman will be seeking his first individual medal at a World Championships or Olympic Games, having finished fifth in Tokyo and failing to reach the final in Doha in 2019. &ldquo;It does give me a little bit more comfort knowing that I&rsquo;ve gone through the process and know what the experience is like,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I just want a different outcome.&rdquo;
<h2>Diggs digs deep</h2>
Talitha Diggs, daughter of four-time Olympian Joetta Clark and niece of world and Olympic 800m finalist Hazel Clark, won the 400m in 50.22 to make her first national team. Olympic 4x400m gold medallists Kendall Ellis and Lynna Irby were second (50.35) and third (50.67) respectively.
&ldquo;To see my mom and my aunt win so many of these titles, for me to get my own is a blessing,&rdquo; said Diggs, who is the only US woman to break 50 seconds this season with a 49.99 for fourth on the world list.
Allyson Felix put herself in the frame for relay consideration for what would be her 10th World Championships team by placing sixth in 51.24.
This is the farewell season for the 36-year-old, who made her first appearance at a senior US Championships 21 years ago.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy I have no more open 400s ever in life,&rdquo; Felix said with a laugh. &ldquo;I wanted to come here, put myself in a position to be considered for one of the relays, so I can&rsquo;t be upset. I&rsquo;m grateful for all of the memories and happy I did it one more time.&rdquo;
Felix is the most decorated US track and field athlete and has 13 World Championships gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes.
<h2>Harrison holds off Johnson</h2>
The 100m hurdles had the closest finish of the day, with Keni Harrison out-leaning Alaysha Johnson at the tape. Harrison, the world record-holder and Olympic silver medallist, clocked a season&rsquo;s best of 12.34 to Johnson&rsquo;s PB of 12.35. Alia Armstrong was third at 12.47.
Nia Ali, the world champion who is coming back from maternity leave, ran 12.49 in the semis and then withdrew because she has a wildcard entry for the World Championships. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62b7a9d6320762a7da9f0dc7.jpg" alt="Kendra Harrison in the 100m hurdles at the US Championships" />
Kendra Harrison in the 100m hurdles at the US Championships (&copy; Getty Images)
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 In the upset of the day, Maggie Malone, the US record-holder and world leader in the women&rsquo;s javelin, was eliminated after three straight fouls. The Olympic finalist put her hands to her head in distress after her third toss was wide right.
Kara Winger won the event with a season&rsquo;s best of 64.26m for her ninth national title going back to 2008.
Two-time Olympic finalist Keturah Orji leaped 14.79m to win her sixth US crown in the women&rsquo;s triple jump, putting her second on the world list this season. The only better marks in US history are Orji&rsquo;s US record of 14.92m from 2021 and Tori Franklin&rsquo;s 14.84m from 2018.
Franklin was second with a season&rsquo;s best of 14.59m and NCAA champion Jasmine Moore was third with 14.15m.
World and Olympic finalist Hillary Bor pulled away to win his third US steeplechase title while US record-holder Evan Jager proved that he is back after a hard four years full of injuries.
Bor&rsquo;s winning time was 8:15.76, followed by Jager at 8:17.29 and Benard Keter at 8:19.16.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad he made the team,&rdquo; Bor said of Jager. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy for him now, more than me.&rdquo;
Jager, the 2016 Olympic silver medallist, was one of the top steeplechasers in the world between 2012 and 2018.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been a real hard long journey to build back my body and my confidence,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I definitely haven&rsquo;t felt like myself this last season steepling. I&rsquo;m really proud of myself being able to get back here and making the team.&rdquo;
Daniel Haugh became the sixth US man to throw beyond 80 metres in the hammer, winning the title with 80.18m and beating continental record-holder Rudy Winkler in the process.
Cooper Teare, who is known more as a 5000m runner, won a strategic men&rsquo;s 1500m in 3:45.86 while Sinclaire Johnson won the women&rsquo;s 1500m in 4:03.29.
Karen Rosen for World Athletics
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure

Takes 0.05 off the record she set when winning Olympic gold

McLaughlin breaks world 400m hurdles record with 51.41 at US Championships

The Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah was in pandemonium tonight as local hero Soufiane El Bakkali, Morocco&rsquo;s golden champion of the Tokyo Olympics, won the steeplechase in a meeting record and world lead of 7:58.28 at the Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athletisme de Rabat on Sunday (5).
Earlier the large crowd, relishing the return of the Wanda Diamond League to this arena for the first time in three years, had voiced huge dismay as Norway&rsquo;s Olympic 400m hurdles champion and world record-holder Karsten Warholm, making his keenly anticipated 2022 debut, pulled up and held his right hamstring after clearing the first hurdle.
After that downswing, the final upswing created such excitement that El Bakkali, having once more defeated the man he beat to gold in Tokyo &ndash; Ethiopia&rsquo;s Lamecha Girma &ndash; was mobbed by youngsters as he attempted to leave the arena.
He had tracked Girma all the way before choosing his moment, always appearing in control of his fortunes. It was a huge marker for his prospects of adding world gold this summer to the silver and bronze he already owns.
Girma also dipped under eight minutes, clocking 7:59.24, with his compatriot Hailemariyam Tegegn, who had kept in touch with the two leaders until the final lap, third in a personal best of 8:06.29.
Behind him, the revived and recuperated 2016 Olympic champion Conseslus Kipruto took fourth place in 8:12.47, with India&rsquo;s Avinash Mukund Sable fifth in a national record of 8:12.48. A momentous race.
For Warholm, however, the night ended swiftly and unexpectedly.
On the eve of the meeting the Norwegian had commented: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s always a lot of nerves when it comes to the season starter because you know you have been putting in a lot of training but you don&rsquo;t know what to expect.&rdquo; True enough. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/629d227f263094c40bc17507.jpg" alt="Khallifah Rosser in the 400m hurdles in Rabat" />
Khallifah Rosser in the 400m hurdles in Rabat (&copy; Diamond League / Matt Quine)
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 At the start of a sequence he was hoping would take him smoothly on to a third world title and, perhaps, an even faster time than his monumental world record of 45.94, the amiable 26-year-old was suddenly faced with the downside of this sporting life.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s probably a cramp in my hamstring &ndash; my leg seized up,&rdquo; Warholm said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not fun to stop like this. It&rsquo;s not something I expected, I felt very, very good. So we will just have to see what is happening.&rdquo;
As the world and Olympic champion was convening despondently on the first bend with his long-time coach Leif Olav Alnes, the departed field arrived at the line, with Khallifah Rosser crossing first in a meeting record of 48.25 from Estonia&rsquo;s Rasmus Magi, who clocked 48.73.
So Alison dos Santos, the 21-year-old Brazilian who took Olympic bronze last year, looks like he might be safe for a while yet at the top of this year&rsquo;s world list with the 47.23 he clocked at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene.
A third meeting record was set in the women&rsquo;s 100m.
Jamaica&rsquo;s double Olympic 100m and 200m champion Elaine Thompson-Herah, who had maintained on the eve of competition that she was &ldquo;not in the best shape&rdquo; nevertheless delivered a smooth performance that brought her victory in 10.83.
Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast was second in 11.04, from Natasha Morrison of Jamaica, who clocked 11.22. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/629d222e263094c40bc17501.jpg" alt="Elaine Thompson-Herah in the 100m in Rabat" />
Elaine Thompson-Herah in the 100m in Rabat (&copy; Diamond League / Matt Quine)
</div>
<h2>&nbsp;</h2>
<h2>Ceh and Tentoglou maintain momentum</h2>
Kristjan Ceh retained his current hero status in the men&rsquo;s discus. The 22-year-old Slovenian, who retains his glasses during competition, has something of the look of Clark Kent &ndash; but he is currently throwing like Superman.
Having set a Diamond League and Slovenian record of 71.27m in Birmingham, improving on his previous PB of 68.75m and moving up to 10th on the all-time list, Ceh repeated the trick with a massive effort of 69.42m.
That took over the lead from Sweden&rsquo;s Olympic and world champion Daniel Stahl, who had managed 67.16m in the previous round. And after Ceh improved still further to 69.68m in the final round, Stahl could only muster 62.53m.
Australia&rsquo;s Matthew Denny also excelled himself on the night, taking third place with a personal best of 67.07m.
Greece&rsquo;s Olympic long jump gold medallist Miltiadis Tentoglou made good on his vow to &ldquo;defend the long jump pride&rdquo; by beating decathlete Simon Ehammer of Switzerland, who cleared a world-leading 8.45m at last weekend&rsquo;s combined events competition in G&ouml;tzis. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/629d22a5263094c40bc1750a.jpg" alt="Miltiadis Tentoglou in the long jump in Rabat" />
Miltiadis Tentoglou in the long jump in Rabat (&copy; Diamond League / Matt Quine)
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 While Tentoglou, who added another gold to his collection in March at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, carried the day with his fourth-round effort of 8.27m, the Swiss still rides high.
Ehammer &ndash; reported to be contemplating doubling up at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 &ndash; had taken the lead with his third-round distance of 8.11m.
He improved that to 8.13m in the final round after Tentoglou, who had thrown his arms up in frustration as a handsome-looking fifth attempt was ruled out, had failed to register a final distance.
Olympic bronze medallist Maykel Masso of Cuba was third with 8.08m.
<h2>Convincing 1500m wins for Meshesha and Wightman</h2>
Ethiopia dominated the women&rsquo;s 1500m, with Hirut Meshesha, who was five metres clear when the second of the two pacers stepped away with 500 metres remaining, held on to her lead despite the challenge around the final bend of Freweyni Hailu, who moved out into lane two to try to move past her compatriot but lacked the strength to make any further impression.
Meshesha crossed in a personal best of 3:57.30, with the 21-year-old Hailu second in 3:58.18 and Axumawit Embaye taking third place in 3:58.80 ahead of Australia&rsquo;s Georgia Griffith, who gamely kept in touch with the lead throughout and was rewarded with a personal best of 4:00.16. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/629d2259263094c40bc17504.jpg" alt="Hirut Meshesha wins the 1500m in Rabat" />
Hirut Meshesha wins the 1500m in Rabat (&copy; Diamond League / Matt Quine)
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 Britain&rsquo;s Jake Wightman ran a perfectly judged race to win the men&rsquo;s 1500m in 3:32.62 ahead of his compatriot, fellow Olympic finalist and namesake Jake Heyward, who clocked 3:33.54.
Wightman made his move on the final lap, moving clear down the home straight to finish in composed fashion, with home athlete Abellatif Sadiki finishing strongly to take third place in 3:33.93 as Spain&rsquo;s Mohamed Katir, a front-runner until the final 100 metres, falling all the way back to seventh place.
Kenya&rsquo;s 17-year-old Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the world U20 800m champion, followed up his victory in Ostrava on Wednesday with another assured display that belied his age, maintaining himself within striking distance of the lead throughout and finishing strongest in 1:45.47.
Botswana&rsquo;s fast-finishing 2012 Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos was second in 1:45.66 with France&rsquo;s Gabriel Tual striving hugely for third place in 1:45.71.
Kenya&rsquo;s Collins Kipruto dropped away to fourth over the final 50 metres, but his compatriots Emmanuel Korir and Ferguson Rotich, the respective Olympic gold and silver medallists, had an even less happy time in warm but blustery conditions, finishing eighth and 10th respectively in 1:46.93 and 1:47.72.
Like the men&rsquo;s steeplechase, the women&rsquo;s 3000m produced sustained competition as Kenya&rsquo;s Mercy Cherono and European indoor champion Amy-Eloise Markovc battled all the way down the finishing straight before the Kenyan edged home in 8:40.29, 0.03 clear.
Cherono had tracked the US-based Briton round the final bend before striking for home, but Markovc resolutely refused to let any light develop between them and was rewarded with a personal best of 8:40.32, with Ethiopian teenager Medina Eisa third in 8:41.42.
Three years after making his international debut at this meeting &ndash; where he finished fourth in 20.51 &ndash; Kenny Bednarek returned as the Olympic 200m silver medallist, and he gave a performance in keeping with that standing as he won in 20.21 from lane seven, comfortably clear of South Africa&rsquo;s Luxolo Adams, who clocked 20.35.
The women&rsquo;s 400m saw the Dominican Republic&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist and world leader Marileidy Paulino finishing two metres clear in 50.10, with Sada Williams of Barbados second in 50.74 and Stephenie Ann McPherson of Jamaica third in 51.37.
<h2>Jumps victories for Morris, Mahuchikh and Lafond</h2>
Sandi Morris, set on following successive world pole vault silvers with gold in the home setting of Eugene, Oregon this summer, maintained her winning form with a confident display.
By contrast, her training partner Katie Nageotte, the Olympic champion, failed to clear her opening height of 4.30m. Morris, meanwhile, did not enter the competition until 4.55m, clearing at the second attempt, and a first-time clearance at 4.65m confirmed victory. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/629d233f263094c40bc1750d.jpg" alt="Triple jump winner Thea Lafond in Rabat" />
Triple jump winner Thea Lafond in Rabat (&copy; Diamond League / Matt Quine)
</div>
 Australia&rsquo;s Nina Kennedy was also clear first time at 4.65m, despite making 4.55m on her third attempt, but then had to retire. Greece&rsquo;s 2016 Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi was third, clearing 4.55m first time but then being unable to make 4.65m.
Ukraine&rsquo;s Olympic bronze medallist and world silver medal-winning high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who has already earned world indoor gold this year, maintained her winning momentum with a first-time clearance at 1.96m before skipping up to take three unsuccessful attempts at 2.01m.
Like her two compatriots Iryna Gerashchenko and Yuliya Levchenko, the 20-year-old was sporting a badge pinned to her vest in support of Ukraine&rsquo;s resistance to the Russian invasion.
Gerashchenko cleared 1.93m and took second place on countback ahead of Australia&rsquo;s Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olsylagers &ndash; formerly McDermott &ndash; and Kazakhstan&rsquo;s Nadezhda Dubovitskaya.
Thea Lafond of Dominica won the women&rsquo;s triple jump with a fifth-round effort of 14.46m, with Shanieka Ricketts of Jamaica second with 14.43m and Slovenia&rsquo;s Neja Filipic third, a centimetre behind.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

World and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm pulls up after the first barrier

El Bakkali rocks Rabat with world-leading steeplechase victory

Czech Republic&rsquo;s Zuzana Hejnova, the two-time world 400m hurdles champion and Olympic bronze medallist, has confirmed her retirement from competitive athletics.
The 35-year-old, who has announced that she is expecting a baby, is to bid an official farewell to her successful career at the Ostrava Golden Spike &ndash; a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting &ndash; on 31 May.
&ldquo;I wanted to say goodbye in front of Czech spectators,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I have had a great career and from the bottom of my heart&nbsp;I thank&nbsp;everyone who supported me. I'm looking forward to a new role now.&rdquo;
World U18 gold in 2003 was the first of the global titles claimed by Hejnova, the then 16-year-old clocking 57.54 to win the 400m hurdles in Sherbrooke, Canada. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/628381235b57bac3508cdee6.jpg" alt="Zuzana Hejnova celebrates her win at the 2003 World U18 Championships" />
Zuzana Hejnova celebrates her win at the 2003 World U18 Championships (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
She broke the Czech U20 record for the first time at the World U20 Championships in Grosseto the following year, her 57.44 securing silver, and lowered it again in 2005, eventually taking it to 55.89 when winning the 2005 European U20 title in Kaunas.
Hejnova then broke the Czech senior record the following year and improved it every season from 2006 to 2011. During that period she claimed 400m hurdles bronze at the 2007 European U23 Championships, made her Olympic debut with a seventh-place finish in Beijing in 2008 and secured silver as part of the Czech 4x400m team at the 2010 World Indoor Championships.
Hejnova became an Olympic medallist two years later, winning bronze at the 2012 Games in London, and that was to prove just the start.
During an unbeaten 2013 season in her specialist event, Hejnova won the first of her two world 400m hurdles titles and she did it with the performance of her life &ndash; clocking a still-standing Czech record of 52.83 to get gold in Moscow. She won the overall Diamond League title &ndash; a feat she repeated in 2015 &ndash; and was named athlete of the year by European Athletics and the Czech Athletics Federation. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/864004a9-f240-48cd-a84a-068bf5fc8031.jpg" alt="Zuzana Hejnova in the women's 400m hurdles at the World Championships Moscow 2013" />
Zuzana Hejnova in the women's 400m hurdles at the World Championships Moscow 2013 (&copy; Getty Images)
</div>
She retained her world title in Beijing in 2015 &ndash; becoming the only athlete to win back-to-back world gold medals in the women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles &ndash; and also achieved top-five finishes in London in 2017 and Doha in 2019. Hejnova then became a three-time Olympian in 2016, finishing fourth in the 400m hurdles in Rio, and claimed European indoor 400m silver in Belgrade the following year.
Despite injury struggles, she returned to reach the final of the World Championships in 2019 and then ran her last race at the Ostrava Golden Spike in September 2020. There she contested the 300m hurdles, an event in which she set the world best of 38.16 in 2013.
World Athletics

The Olympic medallist is to bid an official farewell to her successful career at the Ostrava Golden Spike.

Two-time world 400m hurdles champion Hejnova retires

A look back at the key moments of 2021 in the hurdles

2021 review: hurdles

It&rsquo;s no surprise to hear that since the Tokyo Olympic Games, Norway&rsquo;s men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles champion and world record-holder Karsten Warholm has been receiving even more attention in his home country.
Not that he minds, however, which is just as well as his solution otherwise is an idea he refuses to entertain.
&ldquo;Norwegians have been very kind to me,&rdquo; he smiles. &ldquo;There is a bit more attention, but if I want to get rid of the attention I could just run slower, and I don&rsquo;t see that as an option right now!&rdquo;
Given the year Warholm has had, that is an incredibly exciting prospect.
The 25-year-old is speaking to the world&rsquo;s media, fresh from having been named Male World Athlete of the Year at the World Athletics Awards 2021 in Monaco. The honour caps an incredible season in which the hurdles star twice broke the world 400m hurdles record &ndash; taking the event to a whole new level to become Olympic champion &ndash; and also claimed the Diamond Trophy, broke the world 300m hurdles best and extended his now three-year unbeaten streak in his specialist event. 
<iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TgRD11n4vT0" width="100%" height="475" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> 
It's another big moment for Warholm, as being named World Athlete of the Year is an honour he has been chasing since he claimed his first World Athletics award in 2017.
&ldquo;This award has been on my bucket list, especially since I got the Rising Star award some years back,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I feel like it&rsquo;s even better when you can complete that, because the Rising Star is an award to show that you are on the right path, but this award shows that I managed to take the big step into being an elite senior athlete as well. So, it&rsquo;s a very proud moment for me and I cherish and really appreciate that World Athletics has given me this award.&rdquo;
Back in 2017, Warholm was celebrating having won his first world title, just a couple of years after switching his focus from multi events to the single one-lap discipline. &ldquo;I figured what I liked even more than being a multi evener was to win and I wanted to go to the Olympics,&rdquo; Warholm, the 2013 world U18 octathlon champion and 2015 European U20 decathlon silver medallist, has explained.
His 2017 world gold, won in the rain in London, would prove to be just the start of his global success. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/a74b49ef-6abe-42dd-9c09-fad5a225bb82.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> 
After improving his PB to 47.64 when winning European gold the following year, Warholm retained his world title in Doha in 2019 and moved to second on the world all-time list with a 46.92 clocking in Zurich that same season.
He would remain in that No.2 spot, consolidated by the 46.87 he ran in Stockholm in August 2020, until the USA&rsquo;s Rai Benjamin pushed him down a place by running 46.83 at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene this June. That came at the beginning of a remarkable few months for the discipline, in both the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s events.
Five days later, Warholm lined up at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in his home Bislett Stadion in Oslo. Just 46.70 seconds after the gun went, he stormed over the finish line. The crowd, understandably, went wild, as did Warholm, with his time having taken 0.08 off the world record which had been set by Kevin Young at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, three and a half years before Warholm was even born.
"It might take another world record to win the Olympics,&rdquo; he said at the time.
He was right.
In Tokyo, in what proved to be one of the most incredible performances in athletics history, the Norwegian obliterated his own world record, running 45.94 to get gold in a race of remarkable depth. Behind him, both Benjamin and Brazil&rsquo;s Alison dos Santos finished inside Young&rsquo;s pre-2021 world record. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6108e095315c5c8e31410f1f.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> 
&ldquo;It has been an incredible journey and I was very lucky to have that 2017 season where I won the gold in the 400m hurdles in London and nobody expected it, not even myself,&rdquo; Warholm explains. &ldquo;It gave me the belief that I was able to perform at the highest level and win medals.
"Then I had a bit of a tough 2018, I was beaten a lot that year, but I got back in 2019 and started to run really quick. Through the pandemic, I was able to train very well. Then in 2021 I was able to break the world record on home soil in Oslo. It felt almost like fate. It has been a lot of hard work and I think it is also a lot about consistency. That is what I have probably learned the most: you need to have a lot of years to be able to build something. It has been a very fun journey and I hope it will continue.&rdquo;
Someone who will, without doubt, continue to join him for the ride is Leif Olav Alnes &ndash; Warholm&rsquo;s coach and mentor since 2015, but above all, his friend.
&ldquo;Me and Leif, we are first of all really good friends and we spend a lot of time together,&rdquo; Warholm says. &ldquo;I really enjoy our relationship and what is good is our communication, I think that is probably the key. He is the brain, he is the architect behind this, and I am the machinery, so we work really well together.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61a90de8270a3642437f6334.jpeg" alt="" width="100%" />
 A dream team, and despite so much having already been achieved by the duo, there is plenty more to aim for in the next few years, with the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in 2022 and Budapest in 2023, and then the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.
&ldquo;I like that there is a lot of championships coming up, because it keeps you on your toes and you know that there will always be a chance where you can perform,&rdquo; Warholm says. &ldquo;When you have the medals, everybody wants to be in your position, so all the guys are chasing me now. I need to be able to perform and it is all about putting in the work. But at the same time, it is also tough because you don&rsquo;t get a lot of time to restart the system.
&ldquo;What I was actually very surprised about is how tired you get after something like the Olympics. You spend so many years preparing for that moment and then it is like, boom, empty, right? It mostly motivates me to go out there and try to defend my titles. You can never promise anything, you don&rsquo;t know what you can do, but anything can happen and that is why we love the sport.&rdquo; 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-theme="dark">
"I&rsquo;m so happy for this," says newly crowned Male World Athlete of the Year <a href="https://twitter.com/kwarholm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kwarholm</a>. "First when I saw the time [in Tokyo], I was like, &lsquo;This must be a mistake!&rsquo; Because I didn&rsquo;t see that one coming. And I didn&rsquo;t see the victory coming before crossing the finish line." <a href="https://t.co/BMCma5VmHy">pic.twitter.com/BMCma5VmHy</a>
&mdash; World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics/status/1466112982010765324?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 1, 2021</a></blockquote>
 So those are his more immediate ambitions when it comes to the track, but how about his life aims in general?
&ldquo;It is difficult because right now, when you are an athlete, you are so focused that you forget that there is something coming after your career,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I sometimes think to myself that the only thing I know how to do is to run one lap with 10 hurdles!
&ldquo;What I can say is that I will always be good at getting over obstacles, and that is a nice thing to have on my resume. It&rsquo;s about finding a passion and that&rsquo;s what I like about where I am right now &ndash; this is my passion. Sometimes in an athletics career, you have to move on. It&rsquo;s a short career, and then I hope that I can find a new passion, something that I live and breathe for.
"I learn a lot from talking to people that are older than me because they have the life experience and it is funny to see how in life, there just comes chances and it is also about coincidences. It&rsquo;s just a coincidence that me and Leif met and we found a good tone. It is just about living and doing your best and a lot of things can happen, that is the fun part of it.&rdquo;
So, for now, he will continue to express that passion on the track &ndash; to train hard, compete and as a result, get recognised.
&ldquo;More people come to talk to me right now and take selfies, asking for autographs, especially children, and I like that, to be honest,&rdquo; he adds. &ldquo;Not just because of the recognition, that is one thing, but the other thing is I feel like I can inspire people somehow.
&ldquo;If you think about it, running 400m around a track and jumping over barriers, that is quite simple, but once you see what I see &ndash; what it gives to people and what they take from it &ndash; that is one of the things that makes it even more worth it for me.&rdquo;
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

It’s no surprise to hear that since the Tokyo Olympic Games, Norway’s men’s 400m hurdles champion and world record-holder Karsten Warholm has been receiving even more attention.

With great success comes rising recognition for award winner Warholm

We continue our countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2021 on 1 December by taking a closer look at the achievements of the five women and five men who have this week been confirmed as the finalists for the Athlete of the Year awards.
&nbsp;
<h2>Elaine Thompson-Herah</h2>
In an outstanding year for sprinting, Elaine Thompson-Herah was the top performer in the world and became the first woman in history to win back-to-back Olympic sprint doubles.
The Jamaican got her 2021 season off to a strong start, speeding to a wind-assisted 10.76 and a wind-legal 10.78 in early May. She was surprisingly beaten in both disciplines in high-quality races at the Jamaican Championships, but her third-place finishes in 10.84 and 22.02 were more than sufficient to earn her places on the team for the Olympic Games.
Job done at the national championships, Thompson-Herah then headed to Europe to continue her preparation for the Games and showed she was rounding into top form with victory over 100m at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Szekesfehervar. She stopped the clock at 10.71, a Hungarian all-comers&rsquo; record and just one hundredth shy of her PB &ndash; but, more significantly, finishing comfortably ahead of compatriot and world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. 
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 In her final outing before heading to Tokyo, Thompson-Herah claimed a confidence-boosting victory over 200m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Gateshead, confirming she was ready to defend her Olympic titles in the Japanese capital.
Her Olympic campaign began with an incredibly easy looking 10.82 100m heat win &ndash; faster than the gold medal-winning times at all but four editions of the Games. And she then went even quicker in the semifinals, winning her race in 10.76.
But even then, her margin of supremacy and winning time in the final still came as a shock. Despite running into a -0.6m/s headwind, she claimed gold in an Olympic record of 10.61 to win by 0.13 &ndash; which, in sprinting terms, is significant.
Following one rest day to reflect on a Jamaican podium sweep in the shorter sprint, Thompson-Herah was back on track for the 200m. She ran a comfortable &ndash; though borderline risky &ndash; 22.86 to advance from her heat, but then looked imperious in the semifinals as she stopped the clock at an equal PB of 21.66, despite slamming on the proverbial brakes before the finish line.
After promising more, she delivered more in the final. She claimed 200m gold in 21.53, breaking the long-standing Jamaican record that had previously been held by sprint icon Merlene Ottey, and moving to second on the world all-time list.
&ldquo;The ups and downs (since the 2016 Olympics) have been so many,&rdquo; she said after her 200m victory. &ldquo;To come here five years later and to win two events is just amazing.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/61055066a77afcf45a2f9b16.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 She wasn&rsquo;t done there, though. She capped her Olympic campaign three days later when teaming up with her Jamaican teammates to claim gold in the 4x100m, setting another national record with 41.02.
&ldquo;The feeling is surreal to capture three golds and we got a national record,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;We are grateful."
Many would have forgiven Thompson-Herah for taking her foot off the gas after the euphoria of her Olympic triple triumph, but she stunned the world yet again in her first race after the Games. Up against another high-quality 100m field at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene, she stormed to victory in 10.54, consolidating her position as the second-fastest woman in history for the event.
She rounded out her season with a 10.64 run in Lausanne, finishing a close second to Fraser-Pryce, and victories in Paris (10.72) and at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich (10.65) &ndash; her 15th sub-11-second performance of the year.
&ldquo;It was a long season with ups and downs,&rdquo; said the 29-year-old. &ldquo;But next year, the world record is definitely on my mind.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<h2>Karsten Warholm</h2>
The men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles final in Tokyo was, without doubt, a defining moment for the sport.
The World Championships final in 2019 provided just a small taste of what to expect when Norway&rsquo;s Karsten Warholm held off USA&rsquo;s Rai Benjamin to retain his title. And while the pandemic forced the postponement of the Olympics, it also increased the anticipation for the most hotly contested discipline of the No.1 sport at the Games.
Benjamin was the first to show his cards in 2021. The talented all-round sprinter clocked a world-leading 47.13 in early May and followed it with victory at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Doha. Warholm, meanwhile, opened his outdoor campaign by breaking his own world best in the 300m hurdles with 33.26.
Benjamin then responded with a 46.83 run to win the US Olympic Trials, displacing Warholm in the No.2 spot on the world all-time list and coming within 0.05 of the long-standing world record. But Warholm, in his first 400m hurdles race of the year, finally accomplished what he&rsquo;d been threatening to do for the past few years and broke Kevin Young&rsquo;s world record with a 46.70 run at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Oslo. 
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 "It has been really tough sitting at home and doing hard work and knowing that people are taking a shot at that world record for a long time, and seeing how Rai ran at the Trials,&rdquo; said Warholm. &ldquo;All respect to my competitors but it's very special and nice for me to be able to be the first to break that world record. It was important to me. It&rsquo;s also very special to do it here in Bislett in front of a great crowd, and I really think there is more in the tank.&rdquo;
He wasn&rsquo;t wrong. He won in Monaco eight days later with 47.08, improving on his own meeting record set 12 months prior, confirming all was on track for the Olympics later that month.
Warholm breezed through the rounds in Tokyo, winning his heat in 48.65 and his semifinal in 47.30 &ndash; faster than his gold medal-winning times at the past two World Championships and the 2018 European Championships. All the big contenders, Benjamin included, also safely advanced to the final, setting the scene for a mouth-watering showdown.
It didn&rsquo;t disappoint. The duo pushed one another the entire way, but Warholm ultimately proved the strongest, edging ahead in the closing stages to cross the line victorious.
Then people looked to the clock, and for a brief moment it appeared as though the figures may be incorrect. Surely it wasn&rsquo;t possible for a human to break 46 seconds for the event? But then, Warholm has always seemed borderline superhuman. And soon his winning time was confirmed at a staggering 45.94.
In what will go down as not only the best ever 400m hurdles race but one of the greatest moments in athletics history, the rest of the field produced stunning times too. Benjamin finished second in 46.17 &ndash; well inside the previous world record &ndash; and Brazilian youngster Alison dos Santos claimed bronze in 46.72, faster than Young&rsquo;s pre-2021 world record time. The athletes in fourth, fifth and sixth all finished comfortably inside 48 seconds. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6108e095315c5c8e31410f1f.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 &ldquo;This is by far the biggest moment of my life,&rdquo; said Warholm. &ldquo;Last night I had this special feeling in my chest when I'm nervous. It's the feeling I had as a six-year-old on Christmas Eve. It's a feeling you don't think you'll ever have again. But I had it last night.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just so big,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;I had a world championships (gold). I had European championships. I had the world record, the European record. The Olympic gold medal is what everybody talks about. I knew this race was going to be the toughest of my life, but I was ready.&rdquo;
He maintained his 400m hurdles winning streak after the Olympics, claiming the Wanda Diamond League crown in Zurich in 47.35 before wrapping up his season with victory at the ISTAF meeting in Berlin.
Even then, almost six weeks after his triumph at the Games, few had managed to contextualise what Warholm had achieved in Tokyo. But perhaps his arch-rival Benjamin put it best when, in the aftermath of the Olympic final, he said: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Usain Bolt&rsquo;s 9.5 was better than this.&rdquo;
And not many would disagree.

We take a closer look at the achievements of the five women and five men who have been confirmed as finalists for Athlete of the Year.

Focus on finalists: Elaine Thompson-Herah and Karsten Warholm

We continue our countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2021 on 1 December by taking a closer look at the achievements of the five women and five men who have this week been confirmed as the finalists for the Athlete of the Year awards.
&nbsp;
<h2>Sydney McLaughlin</h2>
Ever since she first emerged as a high school phenomenon seven years ago, Sydney McLaughlin has been touted as a future star of the sport. And in 2021, with two world records and an Olympic gold, the 400m hurdler fulfilled her promise.
She had experienced the Olympic stage as a teenager back in 2016, reaching the semifinals less than two weeks after her 17th birthday. But this time, having established herself as one of the best athletes in the world, McLaughlin took a far more calculated approach to the Olympics, knowing it was her moment to shine.
She spent the first half of the season focused on the sprint hurdles and honing her speed. She set four PBs across the span of five races, reducing it to 12.65 &ndash; a time that would have been sufficient to advance to the Olympic final.
From June onwards, McLaughlin switched to her specialist event, the 400m hurdles, and won at the Continental Tour Bronze meeting in Nashville with 52.83 &ndash; the fastest season-opening time in the history of the event.
She didn&rsquo;t race again until the US Trials 19 days later, where she easily advanced through the rounds, running 54.07 in her heat and 53.03 in her semifinal, setting up yet another mouth-watering clash between her and world and Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad. 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/60da4b6e3c5811c412dd330e.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 In two of their clashes in 2019 &ndash; the US Championships and World Championships &ndash; Muhammad won in world record time. But this time it was McLaughlin who emerged victorious, winning the US Olympic Trials in 51.90, breaking Muhammad&rsquo;s world record and becoming the first woman to beat 52 seconds for the discipline.
&ldquo;It's one of those moments that you dream about and think about when you&rsquo;re going to be able to put it together,&rdquo; she said after the race. &ldquo;I knew, from the moment I woke up today, it was going to be a great day. Afterwards there was a real &lsquo;I did it&rsquo; moment and I&rsquo;m going to cherish this for the rest of my life.&rdquo;
The next time the duo met was at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which played out in similar fashion to the US Trials &ndash; only much quicker. In an enthralling duel, McLaughlin held off her compatriot to win gold in a stunning 51.46 &ndash; faster than the world records for the 400m flat up to 1970.
&ldquo;I'm absolutely delighted,&rdquo; McLaughlin said. &ldquo;It was a great race. I'm just grateful to be out here celebrating that extraordinary race and representing my country.&rdquo; 
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 Three days later, McLaughlin was back on track for the 4x400m. Teaming up with Muhammad, 800m winner Athing Mu and sprint legend Allyson Felix, the US quartet claimed gold in 3:16.85 &ndash; the fifth-fastest time in history and the quickest in the world since 1993.
Still aged just 22, there&rsquo;s plenty more than McLaughlin wants to accomplish.
&ldquo;It's an honour (to be the fastest 400m hurdler ever),&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;So many amazing women have come before me and will come after me. I'm excited for what the future holds. I just want to leave my mark and be part of such an amazing sport, because the glory isn't forever.&rdquo;
&nbsp;
<h2>Mondo Duplantis</h2>
He may not have improved on his own world record this year, but in many ways Mondo Duplantis&rsquo;s 2021 season was his best yet.
The Swedish pole vaulter &ndash; winner of the Male World Athlete of the Year award in 2020 &ndash; earned his first senior global title when winning Olympic gold in Tokyo. He also notched up 15 victories and 14 six-metre clearances between January and September, setting world-leading marks of 6.10m indoors and outdoors.
Fittingly, his season started and ended with six-metre vaults. His first came in Dusseldorf (6.01m), which was followed six days later by a 6.03m win in Rouen. After clearing a world-leading 6.10m in Belgrade, he won the European indoor title in Torun with a championship record of 6.05m. 
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 His outdoor season really got going at the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Hengelo, where he sailed over a world-leading meeting record of 6.10m to match his indoor season&rsquo;s best height. From there until Tokyo, he was undefeated and cleared six metres in every competition, winning in Karlstad (6.00m), Oslo (6.01m) and Stockholm (6.02m).
Despite the pressure that comes with being a gold medal favourite at an Olympic Games, Duplantis kept his cool in Tokyo and cleared all of his heights with his first attempt, starting at 5.55m and then progressing to 5.80m, 5.92m and 5.97m before wrapping up the competition with a winning height of 6.02m.
&ldquo;The world record would have been nice and I felt like I was close but I won the Olympics so I&rsquo;m not going to sit here and complain about it too much,&rdquo; said Duplantis, who attempted a world record height of 6.19m at 12 of his competitions in 2021. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a surreal feeling &ndash; winning Olympic gold is something that I have wanted for so long and I finally did it.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/613a69b3ee37d62dd11399be.jpg" alt="" width="100%" />
 He suffered a rare &ndash; but understandable &ndash; defeat in his first competition after Tokyo, finishing fourth in Lausanne, but then returned to winning ways for his final three competitions of the year, securing victories at the Wanda Diamond League meetings in Paris (6.01m), Brussels (6.05m) and at the final in Zurich (6.06m).
&ldquo;Ever since I was a little kid, I loved this sport so much and I always believed that it would take me to some great places,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This sport has given me so much. I can never repay it.&rdquo;

Focus on finalists: Sydney McLaughlin and Mondo Duplantis

Men&rsquo;s world U20 400m hurdles record 47.85 Sean Burrell (USA) Eugene 11 June 2021
Women&rsquo;s world U20 200m record 21.81 Christine Mboma (NAM) Tokyo 3 August 2021
 The world U20 records set by Sean Burrell and Christine Mboma earlier this year have been ratified.
Burrell clocked 47.85 on the third day of NCAA Championships action in Eugene, Oregon, on 11 June to improve the world U20 400m hurdles record of 48.02 which had been set by Danny Harris on 17 June 1984.
The 19-year-old LSU freshman, who only started racing the 400m hurdles this year, took a second off his previous best with his record-breaking performance at Hayward Field.
&ldquo;Everybody kept telling me to use what I know, use my speed,&rdquo; the former 200m and 400m specialist told ESPN. &ldquo;I came into the hurdles this year because we already had two 400m guys and I would have just been the third. I had a background of the (sprint) hurdles a little bit, so I came into it with my speed and a little bit of technique, and the times just kept dropping.&rdquo;
Mboma, meanwhile, achieved her world U20 200m record at the Tokyo Olympic Games, running 21.81 in the final to claim silver behind Jamaica&rsquo;s Elaine Thompson-Herah.
The 18-year-old also ran 22.11 in her heat and 21.97 in her semifinal, although those times will not be ratified as world U20 records due to no doping control having been carried out.
Her 21.81 in the Olympic final improves on the ratified world U20 record of 22.18 run by Allyson Felix in Athens on 25 August 2004, while the 22.17 clocked by Sha'Carri Richardson in Texas in 2019 remains pending ratification.
With her second place finish in the final, Mboma became the second Namibian athlete to ever claim a medal at the Olympics.
&ldquo;This is my first Olympics,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I came here for experience, but I did better (than I expected). I am really happy with my performance. I am proud of myself.
"In the past, every time I ran against the best athletes, I felt nervous. But I don't feel nervous now.&rdquo;
World Athletics

The world U20 records set by Sean Burrell and Christine Mboma earlier this year are now official.

Ratified: world records for Mboma and Burrell

As the countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2021 continues, we shine a spotlight on the five women and five men who have been nominated for this year&rsquo;s Rising Star awards. The winners will be selected by an international panel of experts and be announced live at the World Athletics Awards 2021 on 1 December. 
<h2>Keely Hodgkinson</h2>
Keely Hodgkinson started the year as she meant to go on. In her very first race of 2021, the then 18-year-old ran 1:59.03 in Vienna to improve the almost 17-year-old world U20 indoor 800m record by exactly two seconds. She would later describe it as a &ldquo;perfect&rdquo; race, but she was far from done.
Five weeks later, and just four days after she turned 19, the Briton had further cause for celebration as she became the youngest ever winner of the women's 800m at the European Indoor Championships. Clocking 2:03.88 after a tactical race in Torun, Poland, she beat local favourites Joanna Jozwik and Angelika Cichocka to take the title.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t really think about the pressure,&rdquo; she said after her victory. &ldquo;I am only 19 and I&rsquo;m still learning and there&rsquo;s still things that I&rsquo;m going to learn.&rdquo;&nbsp;
As the year went on, her athletics education continued with further top marks. She started her season with the first sub-two-minute outdoor 800m of her career, breaking the European U20 record with a winning time of 1:58.89 at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava. 
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 Hodgkinson then retained her national title to secure her place on the British team for Tokyo and once there her star rose even higher. After running 2:01.59 to finish second in her heat, she won her semifinal in 1:59.12 and three days later she joined the USA&rsquo;s Athing Mu in achieving a teenage Olympic top two. Running 1:55.88 behind the winning 1:55.21 recorded by her fellow Rising Star nominee Mu &ndash; who had improved the world indoor U20 800m record to 1:58.40 the month after Hodgkinson&rsquo;s mark &ndash; the Briton broke double 2004 Olympic gold medallist Kelly Holmes&rsquo; 26-year-old national record of 1:56.21 to secure silver.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I am quite in shock about that time,&rdquo; said Hodgkinson, with the result also again improving the European U20 800m record. &ldquo;From European Indoors to breaking some records to now the biggest stage on the world, still a junior, is absolutely crazy.&rdquo;&nbsp;
But her year still wasn&rsquo;t over.
After finishing fifth in Eugene and second in Brussels, running respective times of 1:58.30 and 1:58.16 &ndash; two of nine sub-2:00 800m times she achieved throughout the year &ndash; Hodgkinson lined up in Zurich for the Wanda Diamond League final.
Surging down the home straight and away from Jamaica&rsquo;s Natoya Goule and the USA&rsquo;s Kate Grace, who came through for second, Hodgkinson crossed the finish line of the Letzigrund stadium with 1:57.98 on the clock to claim the Diamond Trophy and cap an impressive breakthrough year.
&ldquo;A dreamy season ended as Diamond League champion,&rdquo; she wrote on social media. &ldquo;See you next year!&rdquo;&nbsp; 
<h2>Sean Burrell&nbsp;</h2>
Breaking a world record at any point of a career is a remarkable achievement. Doing so during the very first year in an event is something else.
But that&rsquo;s exactly what the USA's Sean Burrell managed when he clocked 47.85 to win at the NCAA Championships in Eugene in June. Just two months after his first ever 400m hurdles race, the 19-year-old became the only U20 athlete to have ever dipped under 48 seconds in the discipline, improving the world U20 record of 48.02 which had been set by Danny Harris in 1984.
Running in lane eight, the LSU freshman was narrowly ahead as he came off the final bend but he quickly left his rivals behind as he powered over the final couple of barriers and then roared with delight when he saw his time on the Hayward Field clock. 
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 &ldquo;Everybody kept telling me to use what I know, use my speed,&rdquo; the former 200m and 400m specialist told ESPN. &ldquo;I came into the hurdles this year because we already had two 400m guys and I would have just been the third. I had a background of the (sprint) hurdles a little bit, so I came into it with my speed and a little bit of technique, and the times just kept dropping.&rdquo;
It was his seventh PB in as many competitions, with Burrell &ndash; nicknamed &lsquo;squirrel&rsquo; &ndash; having started out with a time of 50.83 when making his 400m hurdles debut at the Battle on the Bayou meeting in Baton Rouge at the beginning of April. From there he ran 50.64 in Tuscaloosa and improved to 50.15 and 49.12 in Baton Rouge later in the month, before clocking 48.92 at College Station and 48.86 in Jacksonville in May.
So he has certainly made a name for himself this year. But why the nickname? &ldquo;When I was younger, that was the name they gave me. I look like one, a fast one,&rdquo; explained Burrell, who also clocked 45.57 for the 400m flat indoors in 2021, a time which places him sixth on the world U20 indoor all-time list.
An incredibly fast, record-breaking one, as it turns out.
&ldquo;Be proud of everything you do and never give up,&rdquo; he said, when asked for a message to his supporters. &ldquo;When somebody tells you you can&rsquo;t do something, keep going, keep pushing. The sky is the limit. And be a squirrel, because it&rsquo;s always good to be a squirrel.&rdquo;

We focus on the five women and five men who have been nominated for this year’s Rising Star awards.

Spotlight on Rising Stars: Keely Hodgkinson and Sean Burrell

If there’s one thing Shamier Little knows how to do, it’s how to bounce back.

Little's road to redemption leads to Eugene

As a teacher at Danetree Primary School in the UK, hurdler Jessie Knight is used to leading the lessons. During the 2021 Olympic season, however, it was Miss Knight&rsquo;s turn to learn from her pupils.
Left heartbroken after a fall in Tokyo ended her Olympic dream, it was the thought of her school that helped Knight to get back on her feet. Now, should her future lesson planning ever require a tale of perseverance, the 27-year-old won&rsquo;t have to look far for a story to show how life &ndash; like sport &ndash; is full of ups and downs, but that it&rsquo;s important to never give up.
The British 400m hurdles No.1 had overcome a series of setbacks to make it to the start line in Tokyo and while her campaign ended with that fall in the heats, she is now &ndash; with the help of her pupils &ndash; able to positively reflect on just how much she achieved.
&ldquo;The children were so excited about the Olympics,&rdquo; Knight says. &ldquo;They may not know about the World Championships, but most children have heard of the Olympics. I know that they won&rsquo;t have really cared what happened, just that their teacher got to the Olympics, and in those really low moments when I felt like I had failed and everything I had worked hard towards had quite literally ended within 10 seconds, I was thinking of them. I was in Tokyo, I earnt my spot there. Those children were still really proud and therefore I should be proud as well.
&ldquo;Those children are following my journey and I think it&rsquo;s so important that I do fight back and I show them that there will be lows but there are also many highs that come after it. Without even intending to, they inspired me at my lowest points in Tokyo to keep going. If I did just give up, then I&rsquo;m not teaching them anything, really.&rdquo; 
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<h2> First steps</h2>
While Knight is now inspiring &ndash; and being inspired by &ndash; the next generation, it was actually her own primary school teacher, Mr Bezodis, whose encouragement first led her to athletics.
&ldquo;I was shy and I dreaded anyone talking to me, I could feel my face flush. He just found something that I could do,&rdquo; Knight explains. &ldquo;He had such a big impact on me and if it wasn&rsquo;t him, it could have been another teacher. It&rsquo;s hard to think of a life without athletics because it has been my life for so long, but I do genuinely believe I would be a whole different person without it.
&ldquo;I think we do have a big role to play (as teachers). It has given me confidence in all walks of life, not just sport.&rdquo; 
<img src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/0a6730ee-4e47-4ba1-8559-8c320fe5e1df.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> Jessie Knight in training during the pandemic (&copy; Getty Images)
 Following that introduction to athletics, Knight continued to combine the sport with her studies until 2017, when she decided to concentrate on her teaching career. But two years later she made a comeback and, despite being a full-time teacher, she achieved a breakthrough 400m win at the 2020 Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Glasgow and claimed her first British title two weeks later.
Then came the coronavirus pandemic and her goal of representing Great Britain on the global stage was put on hold. Determined to do everything she could to make that aim a reality in 2021, Knight took a step back from teaching and switched to working one day a week to help with lesson planning. She will return to the school later this month to help cover a class until December.
&ldquo;I made the really difficult decision at Easter to leave my class, mainly to help preparations for the Olympics, and the children were just amazing,&rdquo; Knight explains. &ldquo;They were obviously so sad, but they were saying: &lsquo;You&rsquo;re going to follow your dreams; go and do it!&rsquo; They were so understanding for eight-year-olds, it was quite unbelievable. They were almost consoling me, because I was crying!
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m in a really nice position now where I can go in to see the children, but I&rsquo;m not the sole person responsible for their education. I love teaching and as much as I&rsquo;m taking a little bit of a break, I will be going back. It is my career and I love it.&rdquo; 
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<h3>&ldquo;I sometimes walk through the hallways at school and I can hear some of the really young ones whispering: &lsquo;There&rsquo;s Miss Knight!&rsquo; I feel like a celebrity, it&rsquo;s ridiculous, but they are so excited to see me.&rdquo;</h3>
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 As much as her Tokyo experience was personally tough, Knight is also aware of the potential wider impact of that moment.
&ldquo;One of the first things I thought once I had calmed down after I had fallen was worrying about the children, because it&rsquo;s not every day you see your teacher fall over, let alone see your teacher fall over on TV, and they know what I have put into it,&rdquo; she says.
&ldquo;So, I will share that story with them. It is just about not giving up; that there will be challenges and you might quite literally fall flat on your face but it&rsquo;s about getting back up again.
&ldquo;It has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I have achieved a lot as well,&rdquo; adds Knight, who represented GB three times in 2021 and improved to a 400m hurdles PB of 54.23 in Switzerland three weeks after the Olympics. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m ranked 11th in the world right now and if you had told me that two years ago, I wouldn't have believed you, so I think you just have to reflect sometimes and be proud of how far you have come.&rdquo; 
<h2>The power of teaching</h2>
Just as Mr Bezodis helped Knight at the start of her journey to becoming an Olympian, the European indoor 4x400m medallist is determined to have the same impact on her pupils.
&ldquo;It is important to let them know the things they are good at, but you can also tell the things the children enjoy, and it isn&rsquo;t always about being really good at it,&rdquo; Knight says.
&ldquo;I try to make a big deal out of it because if my teacher hadn&rsquo;t with me, there&rsquo;s no way I would have gone to that Monday evening athletics club.&rdquo; 
<img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/615c34ec3b1c8ea683124f75.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="581" />
 While her focus now is on a busy 2022 &ndash; during which she is targeting the World Championships, European Championships and Commonwealth Games &ndash; Knight will continue to stay involved in teaching and may one day also step into coaching.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure I would want to coach at an elite level, but I think I would really like coaching young children that have just started getting into athletics, to do the fun element of getting them to try all the different events,&rdquo; says the Windsor Slough Eton &amp; Hounslow athlete, whose own current coach is Marina Armstrong.
&ldquo;I can remember the coaches that were at Epsom &amp; Ewell Harriers when I went. It used to be a Monday evening after school, I was eight years old and those days were so important. They had me trying everything. I think I would enjoy that &ndash; building the fire and the love for athletics and then passing them on to someone that can give a little bit more.
"I suppose that combines both of my careers and maybe gives something back to the sport that has given me so much. Who knows what the future holds.&rdquo;
Jess Whittington for World Athletics

During the 2021 Olympic season, it was Jessie Knight’s turn to learn from her pupils.

Lessons for life – Olympic hurdler Miss Knight and the power of teaching

Women&rsquo;s world triple jump record 15.67m Yulimar Rojas (VEN) Tokyo 1 August 2021 Men&rsquo;s world 400m hurdles record 45.94 Karsten Warholm (NOR) Tokyo 3 August 2021 Women&rsquo;s world 400m hurdles record 51.46 Sydney McLaughlin (USA) Tokyo 4 August 2021 The world records set by Yulimar Rojas, Karsten Warholm and Sydney McLaughlin to win their Olympic gold medals in Tokyo have been ratified.
History was made in the women&rsquo;s triple jump, men&rsquo;s 400m hurdles and women&rsquo;s 400m hurdles over the course of four days in Japan&rsquo;s capital city as Venezuela&rsquo;s Rojas, Norway&rsquo;s Warholm and the USA&rsquo;s McLaughlin each took their events to another level.
First came Rojas&rsquo; record leap on 1 August. Soaring out to an incredible 15.67m, the 25-year-old secured Venezuela&rsquo;s first Olympic title in athletics.
The two-time world champion had opened her campaign with an Olympic triple jump record of 15.41m and by the time she lined up for her final effort, Rojas&rsquo; victory was guaranteed. With her last attempt, she sailed even further to add 17 centimetres to the previous world record that had been set by Ukraine&rsquo;s Inessa Kravets on 10 August 1995 at the World Championships in Gothenburg.
&ldquo;I am lost for words; I can&rsquo;t describe this feeling and this moment,&rdquo; Rojas said. &ldquo;Gold medal winner, with an Olympic record, and a world record ... Wow. It is a fantastic night.&rdquo;
Two days later it was Warholm&rsquo;s turn as he smashed the 400m hurdles world record in 45.94 to win one of the most highly anticipated showdowns of the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Leading the highest quality men's 400m hurdles race in history, the 25-year-old took gold ahead of the USA's Rai Benjamin, whose 46.17 for silver also beat the previous world record of 46.70 which had been set by Warholm in Oslo on 1 July. Brazil&rsquo;s Alison dos Santos took bronze in 46.72, a time inside the world record that had belonged to Kevin Young from 1992 until that day in Norway at the start of July.
&ldquo;It's so crazy,&rdquo; Warholm said. &ldquo;This is by far the biggest moment of my life.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I was so focused on getting that last medal in my collection and now it&rsquo;s all complete,&rdquo; the two-time world champion added. &ldquo;I need to set myself new goals, I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m done yet.&rdquo;
The following day McLaughlin also improved her own world 400m hurdles record, storming to gold in 51.46 as her US teammate Dalilah Muhammad finished second in 51.58, also well inside McLaughlin&rsquo;s previous world record of 51.90 set at the US Olympic Trials in Eugene on 27 June. Femke Bol of the Netherlands was third in 52.03, a mark faster than the world record Muhammad had held until McLaughlin broke it earlier in the season.
McLaughlin&rsquo;s 51.46 to lead the deepest women's 400m hurdles race in global championships history is a time which, up until 1970, would have bettered the world record in the 400m flat.
"I saw Dalilah ahead of me with one (hurdle) to go,&rdquo; McLaughlin said. &ldquo;I just thought: 'Run your race'. The race doesn't really start until hurdle seven. I just wanted to go out there and give it everything I had.&rdquo;
World Athletics

The world records set by Yulimar Rojas, Karsten Warholm and Sydney McLaughlin to win their Olympic gold medals in Tokyo have been ratified.