Karsten Warholm fears embarrassing loss to Armand Duplantis – NRK Sport – Sports news, results and broadcast schedules

– After the Olympics, this is probably the second most prestigious competition I will compete in this year. It’s going to be a battle.

With the silver medal around his neck, Karsten Warholm talks about what is most important for the rest of the season. He will run the 400m hurdles once or three times and, despite being beaten by Rai Benjamin in Paris, he wants to prove that he is the best in the world.

But the prestige battle he’s talking about is something else entirely.

On September 5, at the Diamond League in Zurich, he will compete in the 100m race against Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, the Norwegian world record holder in the 400m hurdles and the Swedish world record holder in the pole vault.

Requires Warholm no Easy to get on.

– He’s ready to fight.

– He offered to fight and I had to accept. “Then we stood there and it was mostly for fun, but I added something when it first came up,” Warholm told NRK.

– Are you excited about what you can achieve?

– Yes, but I’m more excited about what he can accomplish.

– Do you find it embarrassing to be beaten by a pole vaulter?

– Yes, a little, Warholm admitted.

Duplantis confirmed the fight with Aftonbladet before the Olympics. He also revealed that he was practicing from the block.

– I’m very motivated. “I’ve rarely looked forward to a match so much,” he told the Swedish newspaper.

– Do not work with charities

Perhaps it was a prestigious matchup like this that Warholm needed after the Olympics. Because although he has moved on from the immediate disappointment, he did not hide that the pain of his Olympic loss to Rai Benjamin still stung.

This was the first time in his career that he won a championship without taking home the gold medal.

– That’s the thing. While it tells a lot about the current state of affairs, it also tells a lot about the journey we’ve been on and how much hard work it’s taken. Obviously, in a long career, one might sometimes have to accept that relegation to silver isn’t the worst thing that could happen, Warholm said.

He paid tribute to Rye Benjamin for the way the American team handled defeat when the results were the opposite. He also paid tribute to the way his opponent won the Olympic final and acknowledged that Benjamin deserved the victory.

– In a way, he did, but what we do is not charity. “I would never give it to anybody because I think they deserve it, but obviously he does deserve it with how he’s playing,” Warholm said.

– The throne must be taken back

The 28-year-old said he would evaluate before deciding what his next big goal would be, and he also confirmed that it could be to bet on a different sport than the 400m hurdles.

– “If I had won here it would have been better, but now I feel I have to win the throne back,” he said.

But the first big goal was to avoid a slightly embarrassing defeat in the 100m.

– I honestly don’t think any of us are going to have a great time. But Warholm said, “I think if I don’t get below 10.40, I’ll be disappointed.”

The former decathlon champion’s personal record was 10.49 set in 2017. Duplantis ran a 100m best in 2018, running 10.57.