We knew he was fast with a pole in hand, but the Swede Mondo Duplantis proved on Wednesday in Zurich that he also knew how to sprint by beating the Norwegian Karsten Warholm, world record holder in the 400m hurdles, in the 100m, an improbable challenge that the two Scandinavian stars had set themselves last year.
Organised on Wednesday evening by their joint sponsors, on the eve of the Diamond League meeting in the Swiss city, the confrontation between the 24-year-old pole vaulter and the 28-year-old hurdler excited the fans who had fun predicting the name of the winner of this duel.
After an hour and a half of sometimes sluggish entertainment, between breakdancing and BMX demonstrations, the two athletes finally entered the track, in boxing-style bathrobes, in front of some 2,000 spectators.
After a flying start, Duplantis took the lead from the first few metres and Warholm was unable to catch up.
In the end, he crossed the line in 10.37 seconds, improving his personal best over the distance set in 2018 by two tenths. He was one tenth ahead (10.47) of Warholm.
Savoring his lead, Duplantis even allowed himself to tease his rival by turning around before crossing the finish line.
« I’m still super happy ” Duplantis exulted immediately afterwards. As a token, he offered Warholm a Swedish jersey that the Norwegian will have to wear on Thursday when he runs the 400m hurdles.
« That really makes me happy. ” he joked, handing the blue and yellow jumpsuit, the colours of Sweden, to a dejected Karsten Warholm.
« He got out of the starting blocks so fast, well done man », replied Warholm.
The two athletes will continue their respective disciplines on Thursday.
- RFI
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