Mondo Duplantis vs Karsten Warholm heats up as athletics stars prepare for 100m sprint showdown
"My expectations are to win," Duplantis said in a social media video building up the hype for the special 100m challenge between the world record holders in pole vault and 400m hurdles.
Athletics
What began as casual training banter is about to become reality for Mondo Duplantis and Karsten Warholm.
It's been in the works for over a year, but now the athletics world record holders in pole vault and 400m hurdles respectively are about to finally go head to head.
To make things fair, they chose a neutral event – the 100m – and now the trash talk is amplifying before it all goes down on Wednesday (4 September) ahead of the Zurich Diamond League Weltklasse meet a day later.
It all began last July, after a joint training session leading up to the Monaco Diamond League between both men.
After a few sprints, Duplantis laid down the challenge: "Let's race". There was no way Warholm, who is the only man to have run the 400m hurdles under 46 seconds with his Tokyo 2020 gold-winning 45.94 in 2021, would say no.
Duplantis says he has it all worked out, though, after Warholm warned the Swede he would be faster.
"My expectations are to win. I am just trying to get to that line before he does, that's the only thing that matters," the pole vaulter said in a social media video ahead of Wednesday's showdown.
"I think he's probably just underestimating my speed in general."
And Duplantis added with a cheeky grin: "I did win the Olympics this year, and he got second!"
Duplantis vs Warholm over 100m: Comparing their strengths and personal bests
During that training session last July, the two men traded banter with each other.
"I'm not saying I'm going to kick Karsten's ass," Duplantis teased Warholm, before addressing his friend: "But I am saying I'll give you a good run for your money."
The Norwegian hurdler admitted: "It would be more embarrassing for me if you beat me than it would be for you if I beat you."
Duplantis's career best in the 100m came during his high school years, posting a wind-aided 10.57 during his senior year in 2018.
The pole vault does require a decent sprint to build up speed for the vault – but the runway is just 40m long, meaning Duplantis would need to hold on for another 60m, although he would have pretty good acceleration.
On the other hand, Warholm hasn't run a 100m since 2017, with a 10.49 in January of that year also serving as his personal best mark.
Warholm clearly has speed over barriers placed throughout an entire lap, and will be used to starting out of the blocks while Duplantis gets a standing start in the pole vault.
But having to hit top speed much sooner than he is used to won't be in Warholm's favour.
And yet, in that training session last year, Warholm talked a big game, saying: "I would be quite surprised if I didn't go 10.30 or below.
"On a good day with a lot of tailwind, maybe 9.99? I don't know," he added jokingly.
But as Duplantis points out, it's he who comes into this showdown as a reigning Olympic champion, not Warholm, who won silver behind Rai Benjamin at Paris 2024.
Letsile Tebogo and Michael Johnson weigh in on Duplantis vs Warholm
Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, who claimed an impressive 100m win in the last Diamond League outing in Rome, even had his say on the contest after triumphing in the Italian capital.
"I'm definitely going to watch that race, it seems interesting to watch. In Silesia we talked about how they wanted to do it," Tebogo said in response to a question posed by a journalist in the mixed zone.
"The 100m runners, we told them we wanted to be side by side (cheering) - Team Mondo on (one) side and the other team on the other side so we can cheer for our people. I'm Team Mondo, obviously! But also Warholm is going to be a tough one, I'll decide when I land in Zurich."
The Botswana sprinter thinks Duplantis could run a 10.5, close to the Swede's personal best, "unless he's been doing some secret workouts without the pole vault" in which case he sees Duplantis managing as fast as a 10.2.
Count Michael Johnson, the four-time Olympic champion, as part of Team Warholm though.
In a social media post reacting to a poll claiming more people thought Duplantis would win, the Atlanta 1996 double champion and current athletics television analyst said: "54% of people are wrong".