Armand Duplantis meets Karsten Warholm in a hot running duel.
Now Mondo is mocked – by the legendary Michael Johnson.
Armand Duplantis and Karsten Warholm are two of the biggest names in athletics. Duplantis has taken pole vaulting to completely new heights, and since the big breakthrough just over five years ago, he has managed to break a total of ten world records, the most recent of which was on Sunday when he flew over 6.26 in Poland.
Hot meeting
Armand Duplantis won Olympic gold in Paris this summer in superior fashion, and there are already classic images of him breaking world records in front of packed stands. Karsten Warholm was not quite as lucky in Paris. He entered the competition as a huge favorite in the 400 meter hurdles, as he won both gold and set a world record in the Tokyo Olympics. This time it was “only” silver for the Norwegian, and now a new challenge awaits him.
For years, Warholm and Armand Duplantis have been talking about a duel in the 100 meters, and next week it will finally happen. In connection with the Diamond League in Zurich, the two giants will meet in what is the wrong branch for both, and the psyching is already underway. It is uncertain in advance who will actually win. Armand Duplantis believes that he deserves to be the favorite considering how strong he is at shorter distances, something he shows every time he jumps the pole.
The mockery of the icon
And it also seems to be Mondo who holds the favorite position in the world of athletics. This weekend, American athletics site Citius Mag held a poll on its X account, where followers could vote for their favorite. Duplantis won the vote with 54 percent – but Michael Johnson disagreed. Johnson, one of track and field’s all-time greats who once held the world record in both the 200 and 400 meters, somewhat unexpectedly responded with a taunt at Duplantis.
“54 percent of the people are wrong,” he wrote, referring to the poll.
When the organizer in Zurich published the same poll on his Instagram, Duplantis won that time as well, then with a whopping 67 percent of the vote. That prompted Karsten Warholm to send a fit on his Instagram.
“Do you buy voters, Duplantis?”, he writes.
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