Mondo Duplantis edged Karsten Warholm in a head-to-head 100m between Olympic gold medalists in different track and field events.
Duplantis, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the pole vault, clocked 10.37 seconds, holding off Warholm by one tenth in Zurich, Switzerland.
“I’m pretty fired up, how could I not be?” Duplantis said.
MONDO DUPLANTIS!!! 💥
— LSU Track & Field (@LSUTrackField) September 4, 2024
10.37 TO WIN THE 100M SHOWDOWN!!!#GeauxTigers | 📺@CitiusMag pic.twitter.com/BVxqjBYX92
Duplantis led Warholm out of the blocks, even though Warholm is the one who has starting blocks experience as the world record holder in the 400m hurdles.
“I’ve got to give it to Mondo,” Warholm said. “He beat me today fair and square.”
Duplantis believed that, in the track community, he was viewed as the underdog coming from a field event. He practiced block starts two weeks ago with two-time Olympic 100m medalist Fred Kerley.
As a Louisiana high schooler in 2018, Duplantis ran a wind-legal 10.73 and a 10.57 (with a 2.1 meter/second tailwind) in his most recent year sprinting.
Duplantis’ personal best time on Wednesday made him the third-fastest Swede this year, according to Tilastopaja.
Before the race, Warholm said he sent videos of his block starts in practice to Usain Bolt, who owns the 100m world record of 9.58 from 2009.
“You shouldn’t walk out of the blocks, you should push,” Warholm said Bolt told him.
Warholm, a 28-year-old Norwegian, last raced the 100m in 2017, clocking 10.49 indoors. Before focusing on the 400m hurdles, Warholm was the 2015 European under-20 silver medalist in the decathlon, which includes the 100m.
The Warholm-Duplantis race was announced after the Paris Olympics.
It came two years after Duplantis and two-time Olympic women’s 100m gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce talked about racing each other over 100m, but that never materialized.
The event was somewhat reminiscent of the 1997 World’s Fastest Man event, where 1996 Olympic 100m gold medalist Donovan Bailey prevailed in a 150m head-to-head after 1996 Olympic 200m and 400m gold medalist Michael Johnson pulled up with a leg injury.
Warholm and Duplantis return to the Zurich stadium on Thursday to compete in a Diamond League meet, back in their primary events, live on Peacock from 2-4 p.m. ET. After Wednesday’s race, Warholm was given a jersey with the colors of Sweden to wear on Thursday.
