Hurdles
Karsten vs Mondo: The hard facts and how to watch the race
Can the Norwegian hurdling powerhouse Karsten Warholm outrun the Swedish pole vault king Mondo Duplantis? The 100m race might come down to milliseconds - don't miss it!
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There are many similarities between the two Scandinavian track and field stars, Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis and Karsten Warholm. They’ve both won pretty much everything there is to win: the Olympic Games, the World Championship, and they both hold the current world record in their respective sport. And there’s one more thing they share: a fierce drive to win and never back down.
So, when one challenges the other to 100m sprint you know the stakes are going to be high. But, in a discipline neither of them race, who can actually win? Let’s take a look at their respective strengths and weaknesses ahead of the big showdown to find out.
01
How to watch Karsten vs Mondo?
Hosted by PUMA and Weltklasse Zürich, the event will be streamed live on Sportbladet Plus at 21:25 for Swedish audience. Otherwise you can catch it over on Red Bull TV at 21:30, allowing viewers across the globe to witness this thrilling challenge unfold.
Karsten Warholm vs Mondo Duplantis – 100m sprint
Witness history as track legends Karsten Warholm and Mondo Duplantis clash in an epic 100m sprint.
02
Why are they racing a 100m sprint?
Something that started as a bit of friendly beef has turned into a spectacle that the whole world will be watching with anticipation. It all started during a training session at the Monaco Diamond League last year when Duplantis challenged Warholm to a sprint after some playful banter: “He was saying that I looked fast, and I was like, ‘Let’s race’,” Duplantis says. Warholm accepted the challenge after Duplantis claimed he could win. “With my ego and how highly I think of myself, I needed to accept,” the Norwegian explains.
Take away the pole, add another 60 meters - what time can Duplantis clock?
© Adam Klingeteg / The Red Bulletin
He was saying that I looked fast, and I was like, ‘Let’s race'.
Both athletes run, and jump, for a living but a 100 meter sprint is a whole different game: Duplantis needs to find stamina to run more than twice his usual distance and Warholm needs to find acceleration to get up to top speed way quicker than normal.
03
What is Mondo up against?
400 meter hurdles is known as a man-killer event. It’s one of the toughest distances there is. And Warholm is the absolute best at it. He’s won the World Championship three times and has an Olympic gold and silver medal from Tokyo and Paris. In 2021 the stars aligned, and the Norwegian broke a 29-year old world record in front of a home crowd at the Oslo Diamond League. Shortly after, he broke it again at the Tokyo Games clocking 45.94s.
Reduce the distance with 300m and take away the hurdles, how fast is he?
© Daniel Tengs / Red Bull Content Pool
There is a lot of things that speak in Warholm’s favour in this sprint: Warholm can run 400 meter hurdles in 45.94 seconds. His season best this year is 46.70. So, stamina for a 100 meter distance is no problem. He is an expert at using starting blocks and he is used to the race format of a gun going off, something that requires you to go at the exact right moment.
However, his acceleration speed might be a weakness. He is used to reaching top speeds that will last him four times as long. Can he break the habit of saving power and go all in from the start?
Karsten reflects on his chances: “So I think both the block stars and my top speed is going to be my biggest strengths when I meet up with Mondo”. He believes that Duplantis is underestimating his sprinting skills, going from 400m to 100m: “Mondo, you’ll have to watch out for me because I'm going to be fast.”
The Norwegian talent knows he needs to be explosive out of the blocks
© Herman Berger / Red Bull Content Pool
I think both the block stars and my top speed is going to be my biggest strengths when I meet up with Mondo.
Underestimation or not, Mondo knows he’s up against a giant: “I think Karsten is a killer. He's a mad competitor and he shows up when he needs to show up. I mean, you can just look at his resume and see what he's done in the past years”.
04
What is Karsten up against?
Duplantis is the greatest pole vaulter of all time. He has broken the world record ten times since 2020, taken two Olympic gold medals and two World Championship wins. But what does pole vaulting have to do with running? A lot actually. The faster you accelerate on the runway, the more upwards energy you can produce once you plant the pole and get inverted.
Duplantis's speed on the runway translate to height in his jump
© Adam Klingeteg / Red Bull Content Pool
In fact, one of Duplantis’ main strengths as an athlete is his top speed and his acceleration power. Reaching top speeds of 10.3 m/s he runs faster than any other pole-vaulter, ever. Used to racing a short distance means he can get up to that speed very quickly too. Duplantis likes his odds: “I think that there is definitely a possibility that I can get Warholm in the in the first 50 meters”, he says.
Another advantage for Duplantis is that he trains like a sprinter several times a week: “I definitely do more sprint training than I think people know, and I think that I'm going to surprise a lot of people. I'm capable of running a very competitive race”, he says. “I would never have challenged Warholm to a race if I didn’t think I could win”.
Duplantis trains like a sprinter several times a week
© Richard Ström / Red Bull Content Pool
I would never have challenged Warholm to a race if I didn’t think I could win.
However, with Duplantis’ runway being around 40-meter long it means that he needs to find the stamina to keep his top speed for over twice his usual distance when racing 100m. Also, block and gun starts are not something he is very used too. Although he might surprise a few people: “I think that a lot of people are definitely going to think that I'm not going to be as comfortable in the blocks as Warholm is, which I guess is a fair point, but I do a little bit of block training every once in a while”.
Warholm is very aware that Duplantis is a real threat: “I think Mondo's strengths are going to be his acceleration, especially in the first 40-50 meters.” He adds: “Mondo is a good friend and an athlete that I respect a lot. He’s been taking his event to new heights, winning a lot of medals, breaking records and I truly respect that about him.”
05
Who will win?
The math is pretty simple. The conclusion harder.
This season Warholm runs 400m hurdles in 46.70 seconds. If you take that number straight up, it means that he runs 100 meters in 11.67 seconds. Take away having to run another 300 meters and jump over hurdles, that number will decrease. In fact, the last time he ran a 100 meter race was in 2017 and he clocked 10.49 seconds.
Duplantis, on the other hand, has reached speeds of 10.3 m/s on the 40-meter long pole vaulting runway this season. If he manages to stay around that speed for another 60 meters his time will be very similar to Warholm’s. His last recorded 100-meter race was in 2018, his final year of high school, where he posted 10.57 seconds.
The threat is real, so let's see who has the most strengths and the less weaknesses.
Both athletes could technically beat the other. They are fast sprinters and athletes with strong mental will power. Both hate too loose. Both want to win. Likelihood is this race will come down to milliseconds. As Warholm puts it: “The threat is real, so let's see who has the most strengths and the less weaknesses.”
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