As usual, he shot out of the starting blocks, started slightly behind, but was in front after the last round. In the run, neither had a chance to match Sunnmøring, who took his third WC gold medal in a time of 46.89.

It was Warholm getting his golden revenge after a huge slump in last year’s WC finals. He came out breathless when the last runner was presented before the start. Sunnmøringen looked excited, beating himself in the chest and screaming.

He was able to punch his chest again and scream for gold after a magical 46.98 seconds.

Four finals, three gold medals

The 27-year-old is perhaps Norway’s best hope for gold in WC, and collected the championship’s first gold medal on Wednesday. After the race, he wore the Norwegian flag and around his neck was the clear evidence of the world title.

– When he first became world champion in 2017, it was a shock. This time it was as expected, says the BBC’s athletics commentator Steve Cram.

A smiling Leif Olav Alnes sat in the stands and was delighted with three gold medals in four attempts.

– The most important thing is to finish it first. This is awesome. It’s the third time he’s won and it might be hard to claim it was just luck, Alnes told NRK.

– I thought he would take it, but the level of competitors is very high. That makes it very attractive, and we should be happy about that. Not that we sit here and believe it will work, but I think it will, Alnes further said.

Warholm’s main rivals, the aforementioned Benjamin and Dos Santos, were relegated to third and fifth respectively. Kyron McMaster took silver.

– Warholm got this a little cheaper than he thought, says NRK commenter Jann Post.

– He finished well tactically. Warholm was solid and delivered time and time again, added expert NRK commentator Vebjørn Rodal.

After Jakob Ingebrigtsen lost the WC gold, Warholm had to raise the old woman. Ingebrigtsen and Narve Gilje Nordås won silver and bronze in the 1500 meters the previous Wednesday.

Kjerringa is officially gone.

Dramatic road to the final

Prior to the championships in the Hungarian capital, Warholm was, of course, launched as one of Norway’s premier gold hopes, but the road to the final was not as smooth as we are used to.

The reason is, after comfortably escaping from the heat of the trials, there was drama ahead of the semifinals. Although Sunnmøringen won the semi-final fairly easily, there was a problem after clearing the hurdle at number two: He not only hit it with his right foot, he was also accused of an irregular pass over the hurdle. In some photos, it can be seen that his left foot is outside the railing and too low.

Italy tried to expel Norway, but protested too late. One juror revealed to NRK that AS asked to see the photos, while juror Antti Pihlakoski later explained why that part was true.

This paved the way for a new super duel in the final between America’s Rai Benjamin and Brazil’s Alison dos Santos.

Warholm won World Cup gold medals in 2017 and 2019 – his first two World Cups, but World Championship number three ended in huge disappointment. Injuries marred the demands of the championship on Eugene. Warholm finished second to last in the final. Alison Dos Santos takes the WC gold.

This August evening he had his revenge.