Armand Duplantis beats Karsten Warholm in Scandinavian sprint showdown
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Armand Duplantis (right) of Sweden competing in the 100 metres against Norway's Karsten Warholm in Zurich, on Sept 4.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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ZURICH – Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis is rarely beaten and he outsprinted 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm in the hotly anticipated 100 metres exhibition race in Zurich on Sept 4, which brought the two world record holders together in a neutral event.
Duplantis, 24, was quickest off the blocks and finished in a very respectable 10.37 seconds, with Warholm trailing all the way and posting a 10.47.
“I’m pretty fired up. How could I not be? I mean, come on, stop playing. Stop playing with me,” a delighted Duplantis said at the finishing line.
The idea for the race came after some friendly banter between the pair in training in 2023 and, when the sprint was finally scheduled after the Paris Olympics were out of the way, it captured the imagination of athletics fans worldwide.
The pair entered the track like boxers coming into the ring, with Duplantis in the blue satin gown and the Norwegian in the red, and there had been plenty of fighting talk in the build-up and light-hearted trash talk between the friends.
They shook hands before shedding their robes and making their way to the starting blocks, and it was Duplantis who got away fastest, with Warholm unable to catch the Swede.
“I got to give it to Mondo. He beat me today, fair and square, so it was a great race. And he was out the blocks fast. He was out really sharp,” Warholm, 28, said.
For a change from when Duplantis competes in his own event, the world record of 9.58 set by Usain Bolt in 2009 was never under threat, but they did both run faster than the women’s record of 10.49 seconds, set by Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988.
Duplantis has broken the pole vault record 10 times to date, including in Paris in August when he retained his Olympic title, and set his latest record 10 days ago with a vault of 6.26m at the Silesia Diamond League.
Warholm won silver in Paris, having won Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, where he also broke his own world record with a time of 45.94 seconds, which still stands.
The pair will be back in action at the same venue in their traditional disciplines on Sept 5 in the Zurich Diamond League at the Letzigrund Stadium, and Warholm was presented with a Swedish shirt after his loss, which he is expected to wear in his race.
Australia’s Olympic champion Nina Kennedy kicked off the Weltklasse event by winning the women’s pole vault on Sept 4.
The event was held in the main hall of the Swiss city’s train station, with fans and passers-by packed in close to the action.
Kennedy managed a best of 4.87m for her third consecutive win in Zurich. Canadian Alysha Newman, the bronze medallist at the Paris Games, was second with 4.82m.
Newman beat American Katie Moon on countback. REUTERS, AFP
