ROME, Italy (AFP) — Karsten Warholm of Norway and Femke Bol of the Netherlands underlined all their class by wrapping up dominant victories in the men and women's 400-meter hurdles at the European Championships in Rome on Tuesday.

In a perfect stepping stone towards the Paris Olympics, just 46 days away, Warholm won a third successive European title after previously winning in Berlin in 2018 and Munich in 2022. It was a second for Bol.

Both Warholm and Bol set new championship records.

Warholm, the Olympic champion and a three-time world gold medalist, timed 46.98 seconds for the victory ahead of Italian Alessandro Sibilio, who took silver in 47.50 seconds, and Sweden's Carl Bengtstrom bronze in 47.94 seconds, both national records.

"Whenever I walk on the track, I want to accomplish my goals," Warholm said.

"But today, Sibilio also had a very good race... so I knew that I had to fight very hard.”

"I was very sure that he would be ready for anything and I could not make any mistake today."

Warholm added: "It's just a great confidence booster for the Paris Olympics.”

"The 400m hurdles there should be one of the most exciting races. It's building up to that."

Warholm, who is also world record holder in the event, is known for his kamikaze starts and there was no deviation from the script at the Stadio Olimpico.

The Norwegian, in lane eight, hared out of his starting blocks and was already past Bengtstrom, on his outside, by the second of the 10 hurdles.

He motored away down the far straight before crushing the bend into the home stretch.

Running in new spikes in a bid to improve his final 200 meters, Warholm looked to tire coming into the line, but victory was never in doubt.

Sibilio ran a fantastic race on Warholm's shoulder, while Bengtstrom did well to recover from being overtaken by the Norwegian so early on.