Armand Duplantis against Karsten Warholm.
The duel is both hot and hard to predict.
Now the expert Miro Zalar gives his verdict.
– I find it exciting, even if I feel: “What the hell are you doing this for?”, says the Radiosporten expert.
Armand Duplantis is the best pole vaulter of all time and this summer alone he has broken two new world records and won an Olympic gold. Karsten Warholm, on the other hand, is the best 400 hurdles runner of all time, even though he “only” took silver during the Paris Olympics last summer, which was a big surprise.
The expert’s verdict
Tonight, the two world stars meet, in a duel between Sweden and Norway, in the completely wrong division. It all started during a training session when Armand Duplantis cockily said that he would easily beat Warholm in a race over 100 meters. Warholm accepted the challenge, and after a lot of puzzling, tonight it’s finally time for the duel that the whole athletics world has been talking about for the past few weeks.
Karsten Warholm is certainly a runner, but being fast over a short distance is important for Armand Duplantis as a pole vaulter, but there are very divided opinions about who really deserves to be the favourite. Miro Zalar, former pole vaulter and now expert at Radiosporten, is clear about what he hopes for.
– The heart says that Mondo will win, but it might not be so strange. He is Swedish, he is a pole vaulter, but who wins?, says Zalar in Radiosporten.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Miro Zalar believes that, according to logic, Warholm should retain the favourites.
– Basically, I think that Karsten should do it. he’s a sprinter after all, even if he runs the 400 hurdles, that’s a lot, a lot of running he does, compared to Mondo.
However, Armand Duplantis has other advantages that could play into his hands in the race – and add to that that Warholm was not in his best form during the summer.
– But I think that Mondo can be quite rap, so I think that at top speed he can still be in the fight. Then there is the issue of Warholm – who I still think has dipped a bit, it’s terrible to say that when you’re still second in the world – but I think he’s had a small dip. I find it exciting, even if I feel: “What the hell are you doing this for?”.
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