Olympic champion Karsten Warholm won his 400-meter hurdles race on Sunday after which turned to hitch in the gang booing environmental protesters who disrupted the Diamond League event near the finish.
Three people kneeled on the track about eight yards from the road holding two banners that spanned from lanes one to 6, forcing runners to interrupt through them.
No athlete seemed to be hurt.
Warholm running in lane eight had no barrier in his way though seemed distracted, with a fourth apparent protester squatting in lane seven seeming to photograph the incident.
He was visibly indignant with the protesters as they were led away while spectators booed.
The Norwegian star later told national broadcaster NRK the protest was disrespectful to athletes doing their job.
Warholm’s winning time on a cool, rainy evening was 47.57 seconds, well outside his 45.94 world record set on the Tokyo Olympics two years ago.
An unusual evening’s work for Warholm included warming up in a parking garage in downtown Stockholm in order that, he said later, he could arrive “dry and warm coming to the beginning.”
