Impressed by the 100m duel between Mondo Duplantis and Karsten Warholm that came about final week in Zurich, 400m hurdles world champion Femke Bol of the Netherlands challenged British 800m Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson to a race through the Diamond League Remaining press convention on Thursday. The odd 600-metre distance falls proper between every of their main disciplines–and followers are already buzzing over who will come out dominant ought to the pair observe by means of with the match-up.
“I’d truly like to run towards Keely Hodgkinson in a 600m,” Bol revealed. “We’re good pals, nevertheless it’s a bit far, so I’ve to suppose it by means of rather well.”
The reigning Olympic 800m champion indicated on Instagram that she has no objections to Bol’s proposal. The timeline for when the race would happen is but to be decided, because the 2024 observe season is coming to a detailed in Brussels.
The pattern of difficult fellow elite observe and area athletes to off-distance rivals was initiated by Duplantis, the Swedish-American Olympic and world champion within the pole vault, who challenged Warholm, the Norwegian 400m hurdles world champion to a 100m race. An enormous debate arose discussing which race distance favoured extra; Duplantis has the 50m dash velocity to fly down the pole-vault runway, whereas Warholm possesses the velocity endurance and expertise with beginning blocks. Their race came about forward of the Zurich Diamond League, the place Duplantis gained in 10.37 seconds.
Bol and Hodgkinson’s battle has already brought on a stir within the observe world. Bol’s strengths lie within the 400m distance (each over hurdles and never), however the Dutch athlete additionally holds the 500m world document of 1:05.63, set in 2023. Nonetheless, she considers the 600m distance “far”. In the meantime, Hodgkinson has common expertise racing distances starting from 400m to 800m, and holds the indoor 600m world document of 1:23.41, additionally set in 2023. Her 400m private greatest is 51.61–over two seconds slower than Bol’s, which stands at 49.17.
In case you thought the Duplantis versus Warholm winner was laborious to foretell, this might be a good nearer battle. In the event that they find yourself dealing with off, it gained’t be a race to overlook.