Duplantis beats Karstenin one-on-one 100-meter clash
Scandinavian shoot-out sees pole vault star defeat the 400m hurdles legend over 100m at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich
The Mondo Duplantis versus Karsten Warholm head-to-head over the neutral territory of 100m lived up to the hype in Zurich on Wednesday (Sept 4) as the pole vault world record-holder beat the 400m hurdles specialist by a tenth of a second in 10.37 (0.1).
As predicted by many, Duplantis enjoyed a better start but then held his advantage to the finish and even had the luxury of a brief show-boating sideways stare at his rival as he crossed the finish line. “I’ve been watching too many Sha’Carri Richardson videos,” he later joked.
With both athletes operating outside of their comfort zone, it was Duplantis who looked most comfortable. Organisers Puma, Red Bull and Weltklasse Zurich, had proclaimed this was “100m to settle it all”. Certainly, the winning margin of around a metre was slim but decisive.
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With this run Duplantis has now gone to No.3 on the Swedish 100m rankings for 2024. So what next? A tilt at the European Indoor Champs over 60m? “Maybe with Sydney (McLaughlin-Levrone) not running Brussels, we can race over 400m,” he smiled.
Warholm was magnanimous in defeat – although this was always a light-hearted clash, full of smiles and friendly trash talk – but the Norwegian will not enjoy his “loser’s prize” of having to wear a Swedish kit in the Diamond League on Thursday night when both athletes will revert to their specialist event. “I’ll have to scrub myself clean afterwards,” he joked.
As a spectacle, the race was a big success. Around 2600 spectators filled the home straight stand and some clever use of lighting, smoke and post-race fireworks ensured the Letzigrund didn’t feel half empty.
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There was also pre-race entertainment with break dancers, sprint races to try to find ‘the next Mujinga Kambundji’ and of course the women’s pole vault competition at the city’s train station which was won by Nina Kennedy of Australia with 4.87m.
As the main race drew close there were plenty of short interviews with elite athletes in the crowd. Both athletes also appeared wearing hoods like boxers about to step into the ring, whereas Warholm’s coach, Leif Olav Alnes, wore a colourful and comedic skin tight suit with Viking horns.
The lights flashed in the arena and as the athletes took to the blocks it was time to judge the accuracy of the numerous online polls that had tried to predict the result.
Karsten Warholm, Colin Jackson, Mondo Duplantis (Getty)
The main hope was that it would not be an anticlimax. The infamous Donovan Bailey versus Michael Johnson 150m clash in 1997 ended with Johnson pulling up injured mid-race. With Duplantis against Warholm, everyone simply wanted a good, close race, which is what they got.
Back in 1997 the shot putter and world’s strongest man winner Geoff Capes famously beat distance runner Brendan Foster in a 200m race. It was no disgrace, though, as Capes was known for his power and sprinting ability.
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However, people still talk about it today and, similarly, the Duplantis versus Warholm race will no doubt be talked about for years to come.
Any chance of a rematch, though? “If Mondo wants one, maybe,” said Warholm, “although I think this was always likely to be a one-off event.”
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Held in cooperation with PUMA, Red Bull, and Weltklasse Zürich, the event served as the climax of a protracted back-and-forth between two legendary athletes that had been simmering since July 2023. Due to Duplantis’ triumph, Warholm will compete in tomorrow’s Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League event wearing his opponent’s Swedish Athletics Association uniform in a friendly bet between two of the biggest names in track and field worldwide.
Speaking after winning the race, Duplantis said: “I knew it, I believed in it. Don’t play with me. That’s the only thing that’s really on my mind right now. I believed, I just had to wake everybody else up.”
Commenting on the result of the race, Warholm said: “For myself, it wasn’t a great race. But I gave it all that I had. Mondo was surprisingly good, so I‘ve got to give it to him. He was a real fighter there, he got out the blocks fast and I never got to catch up, so that’s how it goes. But it was very good and I’m proud that we put on such an event. It was great.”
The race happened as a result of a brief social media video that went viral last summer, in which the two talked about the possibility of competing against one another. The video had sports fans all over the world buzzing with anticipation. The exciting possibility finally came true tonight as the two biggest global stars in track and field got to compete to see who is the quickest.