Mondo Duplantis and Karsten Warholm to clash in epic 100m sprint
If you’re grieving the end of this year’s Olympics, then the good news is that another showdown between two Olympians is just around the corner – only, it’s not quite what you’d expect.
On Wednesday 4 September at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich, Switzerland, Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis and Norwegian 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm will drop their disciplines and race each other over an explosive 100m sprint.
Two-time Olympic champion Duplantis is, quite literally, head and shoulders above his competitors, having broken the pole vault world record an astonishing nine times. The 24-year-old field eventer set the current world record of 6.25m at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris earlier this month.
Warholm, too, holds a world record of his own in the 400m hurdles. An Olympic gold and silver medallist and three-time world champion in the event, the 28-year-old certainly has the edge when it comes to track running experience.
While Duplantis deploys an explosive sprint before he launches himself over bars exceeding six metres, and Warholm has the endurance to power over hurdles for 400m, never before have they faced each other over a 100m sprint.
Held the day before the Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League meeting and hosted in collaboration between Puma, Red Bull and Weltklasse Zurich, the race will mark the culmination of a back-and-forth between the athletes that first started to simmer in July 2023, when they ignited the idea of racing one another to determine who – poles and hurdles aside – can really run the fastest. A concept that stirred fans with excitement, it is now to become a reality as Duplantis and Warholm go head-to-head over arguably the most legendary sprint distance of them all.
When it comes to sprinting, both athletes are speedier and more similar in ability than you might think. Warholm clocked an impressive 10.49 seconds in the 100m back in 2017, while Duplantis recorded 10.57 seconds for the same distance as a high school student just one year later. Fast-forward to 2024 and both athletes have scored multiple medals and records in their chosen – and very different – track and field disciplines. As such, the result of September’s scintillating 100m encounter could go either way – and will offer spectators some fantastic, fast-paced scenes.
Tickets to the event are available to purchase here and include the use of public transport in Zurich Zone 110. If you’re swinging by Switzerland at the time, you won’t want to miss it.
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