Karsten Warholm and Mondo Duplantis race over 100m in Zurich (© AFP / Getty Images)
When the starting gun fired after all of the pre-race theatrics in front of the packed Letzigrund Stadion grandstand, there was only ever going to be one winner of the showpiece 100m head-to-head on the eve of the main Weltklasse Wanda Diamond League meeting in Zurich on Wednesday night (4).
“I’m not saying I’m going to kick your ass but I’ll give you a run for your money,” Mondo Duplantis had ventured when he laid down the challenge to Karsten Warholm during a training session ahead of the Monaco Diamond League last year.
The young Swede who has revised the pole vault world record 10 times now did more than give the fastest 400m hurdler of all time a good run after the pair discarded the boxing-style dressing gowns in which they entered the arena.
Duplantis proceeded to administer something of a backside-kicking to his Norwegian friend, flying out of his blocks and leading from gun to tape and crossing the line a decisive winner in 10.37 (0.1m/s) – yet another record, this time of the personal variety, 0.2 quicker than the personal best he recorded in high school in 2018.
Warholm clocked 10.47, 0.02 inside his six-year-old lifetime best.
“I’ve got to give it to Mondo – he beat me fair and square,” the three-time world 400m hurdles champion said. “He got out of the blocks really fast. It was a great race.”
The crowd packing the grandstand were greatly entertained. Among them was Fred Kerley, the 2022 world 100m champion from the US, who practised starts with Duplantis in preparation for the big Zurich showdown.
“I’m pretty fired up,” a jubilant Duplantis said. “Since the Olympics, I haven’t touched a pole in training, only blocks.
"I love to sprint. I think it’s the greatest thing ever. There’s no better feeling at all that compares to that split second before the gun goes off and you’re just there waiting for it. Everything just kind of releases when it happens. It’s like the biggest bundle of energy you could ever have.”
Warholm also had some expert help.
“I actually sent my block starts videos to Usain Bolt,” he revealed. “He said, ‘You shouldn’t walk out the blocks. You should push’.”
Having not pushed too swiftly on his way down the home straight on Wednesday, Warholm will have to wear a Sweden uniform in the 400m hurdles on the Zurich track on Thursday, a forfeit presented by Duplantis in the aftermath of his victory.
Earlier in the evening – in a competition held Zurich’s cavernous Hauptbanhof, main train station – it took Nina Kennedy just 95 minutes to add a third successive victory in the Zurich Diamond League meeting to the growing list of successes in her little black book, less than half of the marathon pole vault final in Paris last month from which she emerged with Olympic gold.
A first-time clearance at 4.87m guaranteed the win for the Australian with the Midas touch in the prelude to Thursday’s main Weltklasse meeting but that was not the end of the drama.
While her fellow Olympic medallists Alysha Newman and Katie Moon both bowed out with best clearances on the night of 4.82m, the Canadian taking second place ahead of her US rival on countback, Kennedy had the bar raised to 4.95m after running through on an initial shot at 4.92m.
Her twin goals were the six-year-old Oceanian record of 4.94m, held by New Zealander Eliza McCartney, and the world lead of 4.92m belonging to Britain’s world indoor champion Molly Caudery.
Kennedy, who set an Australian record of 4.91m in the Hauptbanhof last year, dislodged the bar with her first attempt at 4.95m but the competition was temporarily held up when a fault was discovered with the uprights.
The joint world outdoor champion was allowed to re-take her first effort but was unsuccessful with that and with her remaining opportunity.
Still, as well as completing a Zurich hat-trick, Kennedy secured a fourth Diamond League win of the season – following victories in London, Monaco and Rome – and heads to next week’s final in Brussels on 13-14 September on a roll of seven successive victories in all competitions.
“I love Zurich so much,” said the 27-year-old, whose only previous failure was a first-time effort at 4.82m. “This is an amazing place to jump. I wanted to come here and jump 4.95 but unfortunately I didn’t. I don’t know about being unbeatable. These girls are pushing me. I had to work hard today.”
Newman, the Olympic bronze medallist, took second place courtesy of a second time clearance at 4.82m – just one centimetre shy of her Canadian indoor record.
Moon, joint world outdoor champion with Kennedy in Budapest last year, and runner up to the Australian in Paris, needed three attempts.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics
