Track & Field Meets Chess in Norway - PUMA Ambassadors Karsten Warholm and Magnus Carlsen Talk About Enjoying Their Sports and Being Competitive

“This is what I love doing and I always want to become better”

HERZOGENAURACH, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PUMA Ambassadors and World Champions Karsten Warholm and Magnus Carlsen challenge themselves by entering each other’s worlds. In an interview with Sports company PUMA, the Norwegian athletes speak about how they started training and competing in Track & Field and Chess, pointing out the importance of having fun while doing sport.

“It all starts with just having fun with whatever it is that you have an offer to go to,” Karsten says. “For me, it was all about meeting up with friends. That's what made me always come back.” Magnus also reflects on his experience, “I started specializing immediately when I was eight years old, but I didn't think about it that way. I would do chess all the time, not because somebody told me to, but because I loved it.”

The World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen and the 400m hurdles Olympic Champion Karsten Warholm discuss competitiveness and how they reached the highest level in their disciplines. “I think at some point you start competing against yourself,” Magnus says. “If I win a game and I didn’t perform well, I'm not going to be happy.”

“Somebody just enjoys winning and somebody just hates losing. When I win, that is somehow what I expect of myself. I think if you're not competitive, you are not able to make it on the highest level,” Karsten explained.

Since both achieved great goals in their sports, they speak about the best moment in their careers. Karsten has no doubts: Tokyo 2021 and his World Record at the Olympic Games. For Magnus, the Norwegian Chess Championship (under 11) in 2000 is something that he will never forget, because it was the first time he was ever the best.

Karsten and Magnus share the same Norwegian roots and they agree on why they feel that being part of the PUMA family is the best fit for them.

Photographer: Olav Stubberud
Videographer: Bjørnar Verpeide
Glam & Styling: Charlotte Wold

PUMA

PUMA is one of the world’s leading sports brands, designing, developing, selling and marketing footwear, apparel and accessories. For more than 70 years, PUMA has relentlessly pushed sport and culture forward by creating fast products for the world’s fastest athletes. PUMA offers performance and sport-inspired lifestyle products in categories such as Football, Running and Training, Basketball, Golf, and Motorsports. It collaborates with renowned designers and brands to bring sport influences into street culture and fashion. The PUMA Group owns the brands PUMA, Cobra Golf and stichd. The company distributes its products in more than 120 countries, employs about 16,000 people worldwide, and is headquartered in Herzogenaurach/Germany.