Why are Mondo Duplantis and Karsten Warholm racing in 100m at Zurich? All about the clash between the pole vault and hurdles stars

By Anirudh

Modified Sep 04, 2024 13:35 GMT

Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, also known as 'Mondo,' is set to take on hurdles runner Karsten Warholm of Norway in a 100m sprint later this year. Duplantis and Warholm had planned the sprint last year and were looking for the right time in their schedules to race each other without having the risk of injury ruining their participation in competitive events.

Warholm is the world record-holder in the 400m hurdles and won the silver medal in the event at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He had earlier won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Duplantis, meanwhile, won the pole vault gold in Paris and then cleared 6.25m to break the world record for the ninth time in his career.

While the two are not regular in sprint events, they are also not new to it. The Norwegian last took part in the event in 2017 when he timed 10.49s. The Swede posted 10.57s in his final year at a high school event in 2018.

Armand Duplantis recently took to X and sought help ahead of the race against Karsten Warholm.

"I'mma need Vernon Norwood, Dennis Shaver and Sha’Carri Richardson to tap in to get me right in these blocks," he said.

Vernon Norwood is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 400m and Dennis Shaver is the track and field head coach at Louisiana State University (LSU). Sha'Carri Richardson is an American Olympic silver medalist in the women's 100m, and gold medalist in the 4x100m relay won by Team USA, at the Paris Olympics.

A one-minute clip of Warholm and Duplantis discussing the possibility of racing each other in the 100m was released before the Monaco Diamond League meeting in July last year.

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The history behind Armand Duplantis and Karsten Warholm's 100m race

In a press conference at the Zurich Diamond League, Karsten Warholm and Armand Duplantis were asked for their thoughts on how serious they were about racing in the 100m.

Armand Duplantis - Getty Images

Duplantis stated that it was actually his idea and that Warholm initially "blew him off."

“When I first suggested it to him, he blew me off a little bit as far as thinking it would be a competition or not. When I first suggested it to him, he was kind of like, 'Oh okay, you really think you can beat me? All right, whatever.' That was more the vibe that I got,” he said.

Warholm stated that it would be a good contest as neither would take part in it if they weren't confident in their abilities.

“I think you would never challenge me if you didn’t think you had a fair chance of winning, and I wouldn’t accept if I thought that I was going to embarrass you. So, I think actually it would be a good match,” he said.

The two stars are set to face off at theLetzigrund Stadium on September 4.