Sweden’s Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis, the undisputed star of the pole vault, set a personal best on Wednesday, September 4, when he took on Norway’s Karsten Warholm in a 100-meter dash before the Zurich Diamond League stop. It was a duel that started with a joke between the two friends and took on color and momentum as when two world boxing stars challenge each other and the crowd is warming up to them.
In this case, Puma and Red Bull have strongly collaborated so that this confrontation takes the baton from the mythical one of 1997 between the Olympic champion of 100 meters, Donovan Bailey, and the champion of 200 and 400 meters, Michael Johnson, in a 150 meters race. That duel took place in Ontario, months after the Atlanta Olympics, and this one took place in Zurich, just a few weeks before Paris 2024.
10.37 FOR DUPLANTIS AND 10.47 FOR WARHOLM
Duplantis and Warholm, in front of an enthusiastic crowd that included athletics stars such as the Americans Sha’Carri Richardson and Sam Kendricks, as well as Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith, watched the duel in the Letzigrund Stadium. Duplantis got off to a good start, with a lead of a few meters that she held until the finish line. In the end, he clocked a fantastic 10.37 seconds (close to the Swedish record of 10.08), ahead of Warholm’s also amazing 10.47 seconds.
“I’m very encouraged – how could I not be?” said the Swede afterwards. Despite the ‘insults’ of sorts to the pre-race challengers of a boxing evening from both competitors, Warholm praised his friend after the race. “I have to hand it to Mondo, he beat me fair and square today,” he said. “It was a great race, he started very fast.”
WARHOLM WILL COMPETE AS A ‘SWEDE’
Coming into the race, which he had been preparing for more than a year, Duplantis, a world record holder in the pole vault, had a personal best time of 10.57 seconds, a time dating back to his senior year of high school in 2018. Warholm, a world record holder in the 400m hurdles, also set a career best on Wednesday, improving on a mark of 10.49 seconds from 2017.
Competition at the Diamond League in Zurich takes place this Thursday, September 5. There, Warholm will compete in a Swedish uniform, courtesy of Duplantis’ big win in the 100m. A first time, and almost certainly the last, for the Norwegian star. “It will be the last time, for sure,” Warholm assured.
