“I’m the biggest hypocrite in the whole world“, said Karsten Warholm in a recent interview with The Guardian. Noting how he had to swallow his own words after attacking rival Rai Benjamin over the latter’s spikes, the Norwegian hurdler acknowledged that incorporating technology has become necessary in today’s world. However, it seems like, for Warholm, spikes contribute to more things than just giving him an advantage over his opponents on the track.

Spikes have become a crucial component in the track and field world today, much like every other sport. While this equipment is subject to personal preferences and requirements, Warholm has found an additional use case for it that others probably didn’t ponder about.

Karsten Warholm’s bunny from the hat

In a recent post on X by Travis Miller, Karsten’s hidden talent has been laid bare for the world to galore, right after his feat at the Oslo Diamond League. In the short video clip accompanying the post, the interviewer notes how Warholm has been facing backlash because of his relentless denunciation of “foamy” spikes from years ago, but had something more pressing to talk about. Referring to the athlete’s party trick involving his spikes, the host seemed dubious about the Olympian’s capabilities, but Warholm was prompt to enquire, “You want to test?”

Subsequently, the runner was handed a pint of unsealed beer, which he opened with his spikes without breaking a sweat. The feat stunned the interviewer and he couldn’t hold back from blurting out “holy s****“. The evidently impressed host offered to share a drink with the Norwegian, but the latter revealed that he hadn’t been consuming alcohol since September and chose to continue with the Red Bull can he was seen drinking from before.

While he does acknowledge that modern additions to the sport are making a situation where “the positives weigh heavier than the negatives“, he isn’t one to rely solely on his running spikes for the upcoming rumble in Paris later this year.

Getting ready with eyes on the prize

2024 has been a year of ups and downs for Karsten in general. After winning at last year’s World Championships in Budapest in the men’s 400m hurdle event, he was poised to display similar skills this year as well. However, at Glasgow’s 2024 World Indoor Championships, the 28-year-old was handed a thumping defeat by the Belgian star Alexander Doom in the men’s 400m race. However, the result didn’t seem to affect the three-time World Championships gold medalist all that much, who later stated, “I am not in my peak shape because I have been training very hard for the summer…I just want to have fun and race.” Taking a cue from this, his training regime has indeed been pretty awe-inspiring.

Earlier this year, Warholm was spotted breaking sweats at -21 degrees Celsius. Justifiably the Instagram post from January prompted many fans to claim he comes from a different planet. At the last Olympics, Warholm smashed the previous record in the 400m hurdles by a significant 1-second and came very close to breaking his own record in the 300m hurdle at the Trond Mohn Games in Bergen one week ago. At the recently concluded Oslo Bislett Games, Karsten once again showed his mettle by clinching first place in the 400m hurdles (46.70).

As the phenome puts in the hours into training and recording multiple wins, fans can’t wait to see what transpires at the upcoming Paris Olympics, when he takes to the track to defend his Olympic gold.