Bengaluru: Mondo Duplantis, what in the world. The Louisiana-born Swedish pole vault great wasn’t supposed to run the 100m at a wild 10.37. He did. It would have been good enough to fetch him the 100m silver at this year’s Swedish Championship (which was won at 10.44).
Darting toward the finish line, the 24 year-old had enough time to spare to throw a smirk and a cheeky stare to his right at 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm. The pair, both current world record holders and world champions in their respective disciplines, were pitted in a unique exhibition duel on the eve of the Zurich Diamond League. The idea started as a friendly beef in the 2023 Monaco Diamond League when Duplantis challenged Warholm to a sprint.
On Wednesday night, they walked out onto the track in flowing boxing robes. Mondo in the blue, was accompanied by the “fast gang” – Sha’carri Richardson, Letsile Tebogo, Vernon Norwood, Renaud Lavillenie and Fred Kerley. Paris Olympics 100m bronze medallist Kerley apparently coached Duplantis for the race.
Warholm took a few quick swigs of water as Mondo stood, arms akimbo, before they lined up against the starting blocks. American pole vaulter and Paris Olympics silver medallist, Sam Kendrick was in the stands. “I was the last man to beat Mondo in a Championship…If anyone can win it (the race) from the pole vault community, it’s my boy Mondo.”
Duplantis – who has broken the pole vault world record ten times since 2020 and won two consecutive Olympic golds in Tokyo and Paris, runs faster than any pole vaulter ever has on the runway. But the 100m was supposed to be a different beast. Neither athlete had run the 100m in a while.
Of the two, Duplantis was quicker to react as the starter’ pistol went off. He bolted out of the blocks, and had roughly a metre’s lead from the start over his fellow Scandinavian. Warholm was on his tail, but the Swede kept up his lead through the acceleration phase and into the finish, posting his personal best and beating Warholm by a tenth of a second.
“I had him at the start for sure,” Duplantis told media persons after the race, “I guess I had him the whole way. At 60 metres I was like ‘OK he has no shot’. Then when I got to about 80 metres, I started to feel a little heavy in my legs and was like ‘please don’t give up on me’.”
“I can do something like this again,” he laughed, “I heard that Sydney (McLaughlin-Levrone) got kicked out of Brussels. So, if she wants to race me in the 400m we can do an extra event.” The double Olympic champion and world record holder American hurdler has been deemed ineligible to compete at next week’s Diamond League final meet since she hasn’t competed in this season’s regular Diamond League meets.
After the race, Duplantis handed Warholm a yellow-blue Swedish running vest. As the guy who lost the duel, the Norwegian will be expected to wear it for his 400m hurdles event. When asked about it, Duplantis pinched his thumb and fingers, puckered his lips, did a chef’s kiss and called it both “perfect and “hysterical”.
What about the look he gave Warholm at the finish? “I’m a little cocky…I just wanted to let him know that I had him. Maybe I’ve been watching too many Sha’carri videos.”
