Karsten vs Mondo: Who Wins Over 100m?

“There’s no feeling that’s comparable at all to that split second right before that gun goes off. You’re just there waiting for it and everything just kind of releases. It’s the biggest bundle of energy you could have.”

That’s Mondo Duplantis, the Swedish pole vaulting phenomenon, talking about sprinting 100m. 

Mondo is set to race Norway’s Karsten Warholm in an exhibition 100m held at the Weltklasse in Zurich on Wednesday 4 September.

Karsten is the world record holder in the 400m hurdles and the only person to run under 46-seconds. He won Olympic silver in Paris and gold in Tokyo, where he ran his world record of 45.94. He has four of the top 10 times in history. 

Mondo has all 10 of the highest pole vaults in history, and he’s arriving with confidence after achieving “the ultimate of the ultimate” by breaking the world record at the Olympics. 

“I think it’s going to be a real match-up,” said Karsten. “I’m going to give him everything that I’ve got and I know that he will do the same. That’s why we’re here to find out, that’s what the excitement is all about, who will cross the finish line first?”

It started a year ago as a throwaway comment between mates. I bet I could beat you. I bet you couldn’t. They shook hands on an idea to race 100m. They thought it might be a private race on a track somewhere at the end of their season, but now people all around the world will be watching them as the line-up in Zurich to see who is faster over 100m. 

And they are both feeling the nerves. 

“I’ve never seen him sprint 100m. He’s never seen me sprint 100m,” says Karsten. “We’ve decided ourselves we’re not going to train together.” 

But they are both confident. “I feel good. I definitely think I’m on the level to compete with this guy,” says Mondo.

“There’s no feeling that’s comparable at all to that split second right before that gun goes off. You’re just there waiting for it and everything just kind of releases. It’s the biggest bundle of energy you could have.” Mondo Duplantis, pole vault world record holder.

“We both have a relationship with the event, but it was a long time ago,” says Karsten. Mondo’s 100m best of 10.57 was when he was in high school in 2018, and Karsten ran 10.49 the year before – though he added that his 400m hurdle best at that time was 48-something. He’s much faster now.

They’ve also both been training specifically for this race in the past days and weeks.  “I’m not going to show up to anything unprepared,” said Mondo, who has been working with USA’s Fred Kerley, two-time Olympic medallist in the 100m.

Karsten thinks he could run 10.3, Mondo maybe 10.4. But really the time is irrelevant. No one will remember the hundredths of a second these guys run, but they won’t forget who loses this race. 

Karsten’s coach Leif Olav Alnes put it the best when he said: “It’s like two brothers wrestling. It doesn’t really matter, but it’s really important who wins.”

“Of course the bragging rights are what we’re fighting for,” says Karsten. Mondo adds that if he wins, Karsten would never hear the end of it. “That’s what I’m excited about. That’s what I’m visualising in my head.” 

With PUMA and Red Bull as the sponsors, there will be a big prize for the winner, but there’s also a forfeit for the loser. “It’ll be painful,” said Mondo. They’re both competing in the Zurich Diamond League the day after their dash, where it’ll be clear for everyone what the terms of their pre-race bet was. 

We don’t know what Karsten and Mondo can do over 100m, and that’s what makes it exciting. That and seeing two of the world’s greatest athletes competing in an event we’ve never seen them take on before. It’s going to be a fun race.

But for Karsten and Mondo this is serious because it’s all about forever bragging rights with your mate, and that matters.

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Are there two athletes you’d like to see compete over a different distance or event? 

Images from PUMA and Red Bull