The two world record holders will meet in September in the 100 meters race
Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm and Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis are set for a thrilling showdown at Zurich’s Letzgrund Stadium.
The highly-anticipated clash will take place on September 4, just one day before the Zurich Diamond League, ending months of speculation about their showdown.
Duplantis, after another stellar performance in Paris, successfully defended her Olympic title by setting a world record 6.25m pole vault.
Before this, the 24-year-old had already broken the Olympic record by clearing 6.10m at the Stade de France and won the world record at the third attempt.
Mondo Duplantis (Getty)
The two-time world champion has now broken the world record nine times and is the first athlete to retain the pole vault title since American Bob Richards in 1952 and 1956.
He first broke the world record when he cleared 6.16m in Poland in February 2020 and broke it again a week later at the Muller Indoor Grand Prix in Glasgow.
Meanwhile, 400m hurdles world record holder Warholm lost his Olympic title to the American Ray Benjamin in Paris. Warholm finished with silver in 47.06, while Benjamin took gold in a world-leading time of 46.46, with Alison dos Santos of Brazil third.
After a mistake at the ninth hurdle, Warholm failed to match his season’s best of 46.70 in Paris. Most recently, he won his third consecutive European 400m hurdles title in June as he broke his championship record of 46.98.
Karsten Warholm (Getty)
The idea of ​​a couple clash came from a video shared a social medal in July 2023, where the two athletes discussed the possibility of racing each other.
Now that talk has turned into reality, with the show organized in partnership with Puma, Red Bull and Weltklasse Zurich.
Despite competing in different events, their 100m individual bests are remarkably close. Warholm clocked 10.49 seconds in 2017, and Duplantis clocked 10.57 seconds in 2018 as a high school student.
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