The 400m hurdles Olympic champion once criticised a rival over their footwear but has changed his mind before defending his title

Karsten Warholm doesn’t hold anything back. On the track. Off the track. It’s the same. Full send. No filters. Always all in. He’s the guy who obliterated the 400m hurdles world record by nearly a second at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, fending off Rai Benjamin in a race regarded as one of the greatest in history. Minutes later, he called out Benjamin’s Nike super spikes as “bullshit’, because he believed their foam acted like a trampoline and gave his great rival an unfair advantage.

For the next two years, the 28-year-old Norwegian continued to double down by wearing spikes with “bullshit” written on them. But on a shiny day in Paris, where he will defend his Olympic title this summer, Warholm has a confession. He has changed his mind.

• Athletes to compete in the mile at Prefontaine Classic in Oregon
• Asher-Smith and Neita face world and Olympic champions

It is the spiciest rivalry in track and field. And after months of trash talking and bravado, Britain’s Josh Kerr and Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen face off for the first time in 2024 in what could be a race for the ages on Saturday.

Kerr has bragging rights having shocked Ingebrigtsen to win the world 1500m title in Budapest last August. However Ingebrigtsen, the reigning Olympic champion, insisted he was sick at the time.