Armand Duplantis is the world’s best pole vaulter with double Olympic gold and a new world record of 6.26 meters. On Wednesday evening, he faces the greatest hurdler of all time at 400 meters, the Norwegian world record holder Karsten Warholm, in a duel over 100 meters.
TV4’s athletics expert A Lennart Julin gives his view of the talked-about duel.
– It is always fun with an activity that is real athletics and where it is very difficult to know how it will go. The tickle that something is difficult to predict is there, he says.
Which of the duelists has the best conditions to win and make a fast time, he believes, is difficult to say in advance.
– That is the big question. It is certainly an advantage for the one whose branch is most similar to 100 meters.
– Both work to develop speed, but with limitations, says Julin, referring to the fact that Warholm usually has to adapt his running to hurdles and that Mondo runs with a five-meter long pole in his hands on a daily basis.
Advantage Mondo
The athletes have different profiles in their sprinting, where Mondo trains to be fast in 30-40 meters while Warholm strives to have a speed endurance that should last over 400 meters. Which quality weighs more heavily remains to be seen.
– The likely scenario is that Mondo is the fastest on the way and that Warholm with his endurance may come close to the end. That’s how it is in sprints, some take the start and others come at the end.
Who wins?
– I probably believe, but it’s only a belief, that it will be an advantage Mondo anyway. He has previously shown that his sprint training contains sufficient endurance elements to last the entire distance, says Julin.
Sent glints between each other
At the press conference on Tuesday, the two athletes exchanged glances back and forth.
– It’s a bit of a sibling relationship, where Norway is the little brother, Mondo said about the relationship between Sweden and Norway.
– The Swedes are just mad because they didn’t find oil, Warholm retorted.
After the Olympics, the Swedish pole vaulter has put the regular training aside to focus on training starts from the starting block – among other things with the Olympic bronze medalist in the 100 meters, Fred Kerley.
– I want to clarify that I did not hit him, says Duplantis.
– Then you know how it feels to be behind, replies the Norwegian.
The decision between the two takes place at the Letzigrundstadion in Zurich tonight at 21.30.