The pole vaulter Armand Duplantis defeated the hurdler Karsten Warholm in a 100 meter race in Zurichthis Wednesday in the framework of the meeting of the Diamond League which will be held on Thursday in the Swiss city.
Presented by the media as “The Battle of Legends”, the world record holders in the 400-metre hurdles and pole vault challenged each other in what was also an attractive neighbourhood contest between Norway and Sweden, well spiced with spice.
The winner of the exhibition was the Swede Duplantis (24 years old), who finished with a time of 10 seconds and 37 hundredths, while the Norwegian Warholm (28 years old) clocked 10.47.
According to the rules of the challenge, which was supported by their mutual sponsors, Duplantis gave his rival one of his racing jerseys in the colours of Sweden, which Warholm will have to wear on Thursday when he takes part in the meeting.
“I am very satisfied. I have felt very, very good”said Duplantis, who won his gold medal at the recent Paris Olympics and who has been the absolute master of his discipline in recent years, having already broken the world record ten times.
“He had a splendid start. Congratulations,” said a sporting Warholm, Olympic silver medallist in Paris and world champion in the 400 metres hurdles, one of the most competitive events in athletics today. Three years ago, Warholm had won Olympic gold in Tokyo with a stratospheric world record that still stands today as he is the only one who has managed to break the 46 seconds mark (45.94).
The Duplantis-Warholm showdown was one of the media ploys for the organisers, who managed to gather 2,500 fans in the main stand of the Letzigrund stadium, with tickets costing up to 100 Swiss francs (106 euros or 117 dollars).
Before the race, there was an hour and a half of entertainment and shows, with breakdancing and BMX performances. All of this was a prelude to the two stars taking to the track, who appeared in tartan with hooded robes, in the purest boxing style.
The challenge for this race had been launched in 2023 at the Monaco meeting, when Duplantis told Warholm that he believed he could beat him in a 100-meter race, so he proposed to organize it. “I would love to,” Warholm replied, before shaking his hand.
On paper, Warholm, who is used to starting races from the starting blocks, seemed to have the advantage. He even had a better time than his rival (10.49 in 2017 against Duplantis’ 10.57 in 2018).
But the Swede, who appears to be in perfect form after twice breaking his world record of 6.26 metres in August, took the challenge seriously and has been training for starting blocks with American sprinter Fred Kerley, Olympic bronze medallist in Paris in the 100 metres.
“Coach Kerley has arrived,” the American athlete joked on social media about the new role he has acquired thanks to this challenge. “The world is his,” he said, alluding to Duplantis’ nickname, ‘Mondo’.
With this challenge complete, Duplantis and Warholm will now tackle serious matters on Thursday on the same track at the Letzigrund in Zurich, where they will seek victory in their respective events in one of the most emblematic events of each season on the Diamond League circuit.
Source: Ambito
