Irish Examiner view: 45.94, beat that

Karsten Warholm, of Norway, poses with his gold medal after winning the men's 400m hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics in a new world record time. Picture: AP Photo/Francisco Seco

If our constant, mysterious evolution inspires and reassures it did both in Tokyo yesterday. To say Norway’s Karsten Warholm set a new world record in the 400m hurdles is hopelessly inadequate; he, as the cliche suggests, rewrote the record books.

In 45.94 seconds, the 25-year-old Warholm pushed the boundaries of what we imagine ourselves capable of in a way hardly seen since the first sub-four-minute mile was run 67 years ago. To give the Norwegian's new benchmark some context the Irish record in that event is 47.97.