The incredible story of Karsten Warholm has a new chapter: from world champion in 2017 to European champion in 2018 after a 400m hurdles final as sensational as it could possibly have been here at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships.
Still 22, the Norwegian once more delivered on another glorious night of athletics at the Olympic Stadium as he had too much over the last barrier for Türkiye's Yasmani Copello, 31, as the pair went head-to-head in the home straight.
Warholm has become one of the superstars of the sport, with his ability to keep on delivering. He won here in 47.64, breaking his European U23 record by 0.01, with Copello second in a national record of 47.81m and Ireland's Thomas Barr ecstatically taking bronze in 48.31. For the first time in European Championships history, two men broke 48 seconds in the same final and seven men broke 49 seconds.
The sport is fast running out of superlatives for the brilliant Warholm who burst out of lane six, looking to have the race won as he quickly as he could. Copello, two lanes inside him, made sure that would not be the case, saving enough in reserve to launch a challenge with 150m left.
Warholm was in front as they hit the home turn but Copello was edging closer and there was hardly anything between them as the last barrier loomed. But the Norwegian, who began life as a multi-eventer, had more fluency and the superior strength over the final barrier, landing with venom to charge to victory.
Only 22, Norway's Karsten Warholm is now the reigning world and European champion in the 400m hurdles.
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) August 9, 2018
He will attempt to double his tally in tomorrow night's 400m final!#EC2018 #TheMoment pic.twitter.com/51tZMCBrut
'This is fantastic,' said Warholm. 'After my world title, I am European champion now and it sounds like where I should be. It was a tough race but I had enough to give on the last 100m and I am so pleased it went my way.'
And his championships are far from over. He will bid for a double tomorrow night as he runs in the 400m final.
Like Warholm, Türkiye's Ramil Guliyev was a champion from London and now too he is a champion in Berlin and with a championship record to his name after a scintillating performance in the 200m final.
Guliyev refused to be beaten, bursting away from the blocks with such power before extending his ascendency in the home straight. He was in command but it was a battle for second as Guliyev won in 19.76, smashing the championship record of 19.85 which Greece's Konstadinos Kederis had set in Munich 2002.
He was only 0.04 adrift of Pietro Mennea’s legendary European record which Guliyev, who reached the world final on this track as a teenager in 2009, has outlined as one of his career goals.
Türkiye's Ramil Guliyev shattered the championship record to win the European 200m title in 19.76! #EC2018 #TheMoment pic.twitter.com/vowi78ACxe
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) August 9, 2018
“This achievement is very important for the people in my country as athletics is a very important sport. I want to be a positive motivation for all the kids. I was here in 2009 but it was just my first major event, everything was new for me,” he said. “Now, it was different.”
In an incredibly tight finish for second, silver went the way of Britain's Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, sharing the same time of 20.04 with Switzerland's Alex Wilson whose run was a national record. Spain's Bruno Hortelano, the defending champion who has made it back so spectacularly after a car crash in 2016, was fourth in 20.05 - just 0.01 off his recently set Spanish record.