- Harris holds slight edge nationally over Trump: poll
- Chelsea edge Real Madrid in Women's Champions League, Lyon win
- Japan PM to dissolve parliament for 'honeymoon' snap election
- 'Diego Lives': Immersive Maradona exhibit hits Barcelona
- Brazil Supreme Court lifts ban on Musk's X
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Six-year-old girl among missing after Brazil landslide
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Mexico president rules out new 'war on drugs'
- Israeli defense minister postpones trip to Washington: Pentagon
- Europe skipper Donald in talks with Garcia over Ryder return
- Kenya MPs vote to impeach deputy president in historic move
- Former US coach Berhalter named Chicago Fire head coach
- New York Jets fire head coach Saleh: team
- Australia crush New Zealand in Women's T20 World Cup
- US states accuse TikTok of harming young users
- 'Evacuate now, now, now': Florida braces for next hurricane
- US Supreme Court skeptical of challenge to 'ghost guns' regulation
- Sparks fly as Orban berates EU 'elites' in parliament trip
- US finalizes rule to remove lead pipes within a decade
- Solanke hungry for second England cap after seven-year wait
- Gilded canopy restored at Vatican basilica
- Zverev scrapes through, Djokovic cruises to Shanghai Masters last 16
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Gauff answers critics: 'It's hard to win all the time'
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- China says raised 'serious concerns' with US over trade curbs
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of other sex crimes
- Italy seek Nations League consistency as Germany continue rebuild
- From boom to budgeting as reality bites for Saudi football
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- England 96-1 after Salman's century lifts Pakistan to 556
- Hollywood star Idris Elba champions African cinema in Ghana
- Djokovic rolls Cobolli to make Shanghai Masters last 16
- Milan's Hernandez receives two-game suspension after referee rant
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Ex-Barcelona and Spain great Iniesta retires aged 40
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Ex-skipper Skelton eyes Wallabies November return
- Spanish great Iniesta leaves indelible legacy after retirement
- Indian Kashmir elects first regional government in a decade
- Hong Kong stocks crash, oil prices retreat on fading China boost
- Man City accuse Premier League of 'misleading' claims after legal case
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- Agha defies England as Pakistan post 515-8 in first Test
Sprint banter sees Duplantis v Warholm in Zurich 100m exhibition
As head-to-head exhibition 100 metres races go, it is certainly one that catches the eye: pole vault king Armand Duplantis up against 400m hurdles master Karsten Warholm in Zurich on Wednesday.
The two track stars will clash at the Letzigrund Stadium ahead of Thursday's Diamond League meet proper to make good on some training ground banter that has escalated all the way to a sprint-off.
Norway's Warholm is the reigning 400m hurdles world record holder, an Olympic gold and silver medallist and three-time world champion.
US-born Swede Duplantis is the newly-crowned double Olympic champion and has broken the pole vault world record an incredible 10 times, the last time coming at the Silesia Diamond League meet last week.
Duplantis has long insisted that one of his principal strengths in vaulting was his speed on the runway, albeit it is just 40 metres long.
He has a best of 10.57 seconds over 100m, wind-aided and set back in 2018.
Warholm, known for his aggressive starts in the hurdles, has a best of 10.49sec set in 2017.
The rivalry commenced after a joint training session between Warholm and Duplantis in the run-up to last year's Monaco Diamond League meet.
"He was saying that I looked fast, and I was like, 'Let's race'," Duplantis said.
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 explained.
"My expectations are to win," Duplantis said of the showdown.
"I am just trying to get to that line before he does, that's the only thing that matters.
"I think he's probably just underestimating my speed in general."
Duplantis added: "I did win the Olympics this year and he got second!"
Warholm, who set the world record of 45.94 second when winning gold at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics, had to settle for silver behind American Rai Benjamin in Paris last month.
And he has already admitted that "it would be more embarrassing for me if you beat me than it would be for you if I beat you".
- Team Mondo or not? -
Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, who will be racing in Zurich up against a strong American quintet including Fred Kerley, said he was "definitely going to watch that race, it seems interesting to watch".
But Tebogo said he was yet to determine which athlete to back.
"The 100m runners, we told them we wanted to be side by side (cheering) - Team Mondo on (one) side and the other team on the other side so we can cheer for our people," he said.
"I'm Team Mondo, obviously! But also Warholm is going to be a tough one, I'll decide when I land in Zurich."
Warholm admitted that track racing had its advantages.
"I think both the block starts and my top speed is going to be my biggest strengths when I meet up with Mondo," he said.
Duplantis added: "Karsten is a killer. He's a mad competitor and he shows up when he needs to show up.
"I think that there is definitely a possibility that I can get Warholm in the first 50 metres," he said in a nod to his runway speed.
"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. I would never have challenged Warholm to a race if I didn't think I could win."
Duplantis added: "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, however, was not writing his adversary off.
"Mondo's strengths are going to be his acceleration, especially in the first 40-50 metres," he said.
D.Cunningha--AMWN