If you’re mourning the end of this year’s Olympics, there’s good news: Another showdown between two Olympians is just around the corner – only it won’t be quite what you’d expect.
On Wednesday, September 4, Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis and Norwegian 400-meter hurdler Karsten Warholm will abandon their disciplines and compete against each other in an explosive 100-meter sprint at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich, Switzerland.
Two-time Olympic champion Duplantis is literally head and shoulders above his competitors, having broken the pole vault world record an incredible nine times. The 24-year-old eventer set the current world record of 6.25 m earlier this month at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Warholm also holds his own world record in the 400-meter hurdles. As an Olympic gold medalist and silver medalist, as well as a three-time world champion in this discipline, the 28-year-old certainly has the edge when it comes to track running experience.
While Duplantis has an explosive sprint before throwing himself over the more than six-meter-high bar and Warholm has the stamina to jump 400 meters over hurdles, the two have never competed against each other in a 100-meter sprint before.
Taking place the day before Weltklasse Zürich’s Diamond League meeting, the race is a collaboration between Puma, Red Bull and Weltklasse Zürich and marks the culmination of a competition between the athletes that first emerged in July 2023 when they came up with the idea of competing against each other to see who could really run the fastest – poles and hurdles aside. A concept that thrilled fans is now set to become a reality as Duplantis and Warholm compete in arguably the most legendary sprint distance of all.
When it comes to sprinting, both athletes are faster and have more similar skills than you might think. Warholm clocked an impressive 10.49 seconds in the 100 meters in 2017, while Duplantis needed 10.57 seconds for the same distance just a year later as a high school student. Now, in 2024, both athletes have won multiple medals and records in their chosen – and very different – athletics disciplines, so the outcome of September’s thrilling 100-meter race could go either way – and will provide spectators with some fantastic, fast-paced scenes.
Tickets for the event can be purchased here and include use of public transport in Zurich’s 110 zone. If you are in Switzerland at this time, you won’t want to miss it.
