Impressed through the 100m duel between Mondo Duplantis and Karsten Warholm that happened ultimate week in Zurich, 400m hurdles international champion Femke Bol of the Netherlands challenged British 800m Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson to a race right through the Diamond League Ultimate press convention on Thursday. The unusual 600-metre distance falls proper between each and every in their number one disciplines–and fanatics are already humming over who will pop out dominant will have to the pair observe thru with the match-up.
“I might in truth like to run towards Keely Hodgkinson in a 600m,” Bol printed. “We’re just right buddies, but it surely’s a bit of a long way, so I’ve to suppose it thru truly neatly.”
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 made up our minds, because the 2024 monitor season is coming to a detailed in Brussels.
The fashion of difficult fellow elite monitor and box athletes to off-distance competition was once initiated through Duplantis, the Swedish-American Olympic and international champion within the pole vault, who challenged Warholm, the Norwegian 400m hurdles international 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, whilst Warholm possesses the velocity staying power and revel in with beginning blocks. Their race happened forward of the Zurich Diamond League, the place Duplantis received in 10.37 seconds.
Bol and Hodgkinson’s fight has already led to a stir within the monitor international. Bol’s strengths lie within the 400m distance (each over hurdles and no longer), however the Dutch athlete additionally holds the 500m international file of one:05.63, set in 2023. Then again, she considers the 600m distance “a long way”. In the meantime, Hodgkinson has common revel in racing distances starting from 400m to 800m, and holds the indoor 600m international file of one:23.41, additionally set in 2023. Her 400m private easiest is 51.61–over two seconds slower than Bol’s, which stands at 49.17.
When you idea the Duplantis as opposed to Warholm winner was once exhausting to expect, this might be a fair nearer fight. In the event that they finally end up going through off, it received’t be a race to pass over.