Karsten Warholm, Athletics | Million dollar deal with mum: – A lot of what I think is wrong

In line with the enormous success on the athletics track, the income has skyrocketed for the 28-year-old. However, he is not the only one who benefits from the millions that come in annually. Around him, the sprinter has a small team, all of whom are well compensated for their roles.

Both coach Leif Olav Alnes and manager Kristine Haddal is listed with an income of millions in the tax lists. Warholm has made several reflections on the salaries, but the supporters themselves are clear that the money is not the focus.

– What I am so happy about having my mother as manager is that the financial rush has never been there. The usual agent percentage is not there. There is much in the agency business in sport that I believe is wrong and having my mother as a manager is in a way our rebellion against it, says Warholm to Nettavisen.

The mother is therefore listed with a solid income in the tax lists from 2022. A compensation the sports star refers to as fair, in a solution he believes is far better than if he had to bring in someone externally.

– When we have had a good year, she gets a bonus, like everyone else. I am very happy that there is no one sitting there who will take a huge percentage and who lacks respect for the effort that Leif and I put in at the training arena every day.

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An investment

Warholm’s mother has been a manager for several years and works for her son full-time. So does the coach, who has been part of both the Olympic and World Cup gold in recent years. That in addition to several world records.

– I don’t just see it as compensation for the work done, but the people we have in the team are an investment for me, an investment in future income. There are people I could not have managed without, who I believe make an effort that no one else can replace.

Alnes has several times won the award for “coach of the year” at the Sports Gala. Earlier this year, Warholm himself had to share without the award of one of his biggest supporters, whom he has repeatedly pointed out that he would never have managed without.

– Leif is so unique and has been doing this for 40 years. He has never had a permanent, proper job to write home about. He has never had good arrangements in place. He deserves what is happening now, to be compensated for his unique knowledge. If not, I don’t think he would have bothered to be my coach in the long term, if I didn’t see that his efforts mattered. Everyone wants to be seen.

In addition to Alnes, mother and manager Kristine Haddal has also played a major role in her athletics career. She tells Nettavisen that it is important that the team around her son is small and close-knit, but that everyone has clear tasks related to Warholm’s career. She describes it as a job she enjoys very much and that she has a relaxed relationship with the economy and the money that comes with it.

– Everyone in the team needs salt in their food, we are on a fantastic journey together, which offers many opportunities in several areas. We find these things out along the way and for my part I am satisfied with the conditions I have, she says.

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Relaxed relationship

Among other things, Haddal takes care of logistics and inquiries from the media. Warholm’s mother says that she consistently stays away from training and planning on that front, because Alnes has steely control over what her son does on a daily basis. Financially, the team has brought in the sprinter’s grandmother, who has good experience as an accountant.

– We have all the business-related things that should be there, but otherwise, with the things between us, it is a very flat structure. Sometimes I’m the boss, then Karsten and sometimes Leif. Everything is very relaxed. And then it is Karsten’s grandmother who manages the finances, with invoicing and all that. We keep it to a close few, we think it’s nice to have a small team, says Haddal.

The mother has become used to wearing the two hats, both as a manager and as a mother, but it is not something she thinks about in everyday life.

– I am mostly at work here. If I had gone in with a lot of motherly feelings, I don’t think I would have been able to do as good a job as I can do if I manage to keep some distance. But there is a lot of joy and relief when things go their way. When it’s all over on competition day, I can feel a little more of that joy.

The current athletics season is very important for Warholm. First awaits the EC in Rome, before the Olympics in Paris get under way on the eve of July.