Norway’s superhuman mixed 4x400m team stormed to an incredible gold and championship record of 3:09.62 with stars Karsten Warholm and Henriette Jaeger leading the charge.
In summary
- Norway took gold with a stunning championship record of 3:09.62
- Karsten Warholm and Henriette Jaeger stunned on track
- Great Britain and Northern Ireland took silver with Netherlands in third
Karsten Warholm burst out of the blocks, and this time with no hurdles in his way he stormed round the Alexander Stadium courtesy of a 44.5 leg to give Norway an early lead at the handover with the lactic only seeming to kick in over the final 10 metres.
But as Lieke Klaver took over for the Netherlands she almost instantly teleported to a massive lead as her longer stride carried her further and further ahead of the pack.
She ran a 49.6 split to give her team a confident lead going into the third leg as they tackled their first major mixed relay final without Femke Bol in their ranks.
The Netherlands’ Terrence Agard had been given a lead, but also a target on his back as Great Britain’s Toby Harries and Norway’s Andreas Ofstad Kulseng hunted him down.
With the British crowd behind him, Harries caught the Dutch athlete just in time for the handover, with Kulseng falling ever so slightly behind.
But that didn’t last long as the Norwegian was handing over to the favourite to win the women’s 400m title, Henriette Jaeger.
While the Netherlands’ Myrte van der Schoot and Great Britain’s Yemi Mary John took off side-by-side, Jaeger was quick to rejoin them and waited for her time to pounce.
John made several attempts too try and move around the tall van der Schoot but the inside line was too crucial to give away.
It allowed Jaeger to bide her time and strike as the three came around the final bend onto the home straight.
The home crowd tried to give John the extra boost to fight off her very familiar rival, but Jaeger seemed too strong and flew past to gold in a last leg split of 49.42.
What they said…
Norway (NOR)
Karsten Warholm: "This is my first ever relay medal at a major championships so I am very happy and proud of my team, I think we did a very good job today and deserved to win. I really liked working for the team and this is a team I really like. I see their hard work every day and you just want to win for every one, not just for yourself. I am super proud we got the chance and proud to bring it home."
Henriette Jaeger: "That was really fun. I felt I had a good chance and I just did it. In the last 100m I tried to push a bit and it was good enough. It is amazing to run with these people. We started to focus on this relay this year and it is so nice to race with friends. I was hoping for a medal but did not expect the gold so I am happy. I am so excited for the rest of the championships."
Great Britain and Northern Ireland (GBR)
Toby Harries: “I'm not one of the fastest runners on paper but I am very strategic. I believe I'm the one who makes the big heavy decisions when they need to be made. This team is about making quick, fast, decisive decisions that make us perform better than we are on paper. I'm very proud.”
Netherlands (NED)
Myrte van der Schoot: “I felt that the British girl getting super close to me but I tried to keep our lead for as long as possible. Sadly, in the last 50m I felt the lactic so badly and I couldn't quite keep up anymore. Obviously, the girls who passed me weren't the weakest ones either.”