As head-to-head exhibition 100 metres races go, it is certainly one that catches the eye: pole vault king Armand Duplantis up against 400m hurdles master Karsten Warholm in Zurich on Wednesday.
The two track stars will clash at the Letzigrund Stadium ahead of Thursday’s Diamond League meet proper to make good on some training ground banter that has escalated all the way to a sprint-off.
Norway’s Warholm is the reigning 400m hurdles world record holder, an Olympic gold and silver medallist and three-time world champion.
US-born Swede Duplantis is the newly-crowned double Olympic champion and has broken the pole vault world record an incredible 10 times, the last time coming at the Silesia Diamond League meet last week.
Duplantis has long insisted that one of his principal strengths in vaulting was his speed on the runway, albeit it is just 40 metres long.
He has a best of 10.57 seconds over 100m, wind-aided and set back in 2018.
Warholm, known for his aggressive starts in the hurdles, has a best of 10.49sec set in 2017.
The rivalry commenced after a joint training session between Warholm and Duplantis in the run-up to last year’s Monaco Diamond League meet.
“He was saying that I looked fast, and I was like, ‘Let’s race’,” Duplantis said.
Warholm accepted the challenge after Duplantis claimed he could win. “With my ego and how highly I think of myself, I needed to accept,” the Norwegian explained.
“My expectations are to win,” Duplantis said of the showdown.
“I am just trying to get to that line before he does, that’s the only thing that matters.
“I think he’s probably just underestimating my speed in general.”
Duplantis added: “I did win the Olympics this year and he got second!”
Warholm, who set the world record of 45.94 second when winning gold at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics, had to settle for silver behind American Rai Benjamin in Paris last month.
And he has already admitted that “it would be more embarrassing for me if you beat me than it would be for you if I beat you”.
Team Mondo or not?
Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, who will be racing in Zurich up against a strong American quintet including Fred Kerley, said he was “definitely going to watch that race, it seems interesting to watch”.
But Tebogo said he was yet to determine which athlete to back.
“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,” he said.
“I’m Team Mondo, obviously! But also Warholm is going to be a tough one, I’ll decide when I land in Zurich.”
Warholm admitted that track racing had its advantages.
“I think both the block starts and my top speed is going to be my biggest strengths when I meet up with Mondo,” he said.
Duplantis added: “Karsten is a killer. He’s a mad competitor and he shows up when he needs to show up.
“I think that there is definitely a possibility that I can get Warholm in the first 50 metres,” he said in a nod to his runway speed.
“I definitely do more sprint training than I think people know and I think that I’m going to surprise a lot of people.
“I’m capable of running a very competitive race. I would never have challenged Warholm to a race if I didn’t think I could win.”
Duplantis added: “A lot of people are definitely going to think that I’m not going to be as comfortable in the blocks as Warholm is, which I guess is a fair point, but I do a little bit of block training every once in a while.”
Warholm, however, was not writing his adversary off.
“Mondo’s strengths are going to be his acceleration, especially in the first 40-50 metres,” he said.
