Armand Duplantis won the super duel against Karsten Warholm.
Then he couldn’t help mocking him with ne special gesture.
– It was a ridiculous thing, says Mondo afterwards.
It was the super duel that the whole athletics world was talking about. From the beginning, the large crowd saw the whole thing as just a stunt, as both Armand Duplantis and Karsten Warholm have several of the same sponsors. But the closer we got to the competition, the more serious it became between the two world stars.
Definately won
Armand Duplantis is by far the best pole vaulter in the world, and Karsten Warholm is the fastest of all time in the 400 hurdles. Now the Swede and the Norwegian were to meet in a duel over 100 meters, and in advance the psychs rained against each other, while both firmly claimed that it deserved the favourite.
It would turn out that Armand Duplantis was right. Mondo, who thanks in large part to his speed up to the bar has become the greatest pole vaulter of all time, led the race from start to finish, finally clocking in at the very well-approved time of 10.37. Warholm? A tenth slower. And it wouldn’t have been Armand Duplantis if he hadn’t delivered a little taunt to his opponent – even during the race.
The gesture towards the Norwegian
When Armand Duplantis saw that he had Karsten Warholm at a comfortable distance behind him with only meters remaining in the race, he chose to look back at Warholm, snort – and then stretch out his arms.
– It was just a bit cocky, Duplantis tells Expressen and laughs.
He says he took inspiration from running star Sha’Carri Richardson, who also mockingly looks to the side during his races.
– Maybe I’ve seen too many Sha’Carri videos. But I knew I had him towards the end, so I looked and showed that I had him, says Duplantis.
According to Karsten Warholm, however, there was nothing that upset him too much. The Norwegian said that if he had been in a similar position, he would not have behaved much better.
– I would have done exactly the same, says Warholm.
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