Increasingly, the world of athletics (track & field) has realized that in order to make an impression in this glutted media and sponsorship universe, they have to try something other than the same-old, same-old. It’s no different from training, where you have to institute new stresses periodically to stretch capacity.

Remember, track & field originated in the 19th century when leisure time and sporting opportunities were of a completely different order. 

With that in mind, we saw the Mondo Duplantis versus Karsten Warholm compete in a very entertaining 100 meter showdown in Zurich, Switzerland on Wednesday night, 4 September 2024.

After a week-long buildup and some good natured trash-talking, the two friends lined up for the showdown on the same track where the Zurich Diamond League meet is being contested today (Thursday, 5 September)

The race between the Swedish pole vault world record holder and Norwegian 400 meter hurdle record holder was staged like a boxing match, each man coming out onto the track under bright lights in robes with a big introduction (well, not that big. Colin Jackson made it a little cheesy, rather than Michael Buffer-ish).

Still, there was tension and palpable excitement in the stadium, and a fairly robust TV audience, too. The exhibition prominently displayed both the Red Bull and Puma brands, as they both evidently contributed.

Pole vault world record holder Duplantis hadn’t run 100m since high school, but actually got out first and held that starting advantage the entire way to the tape. He didn’t increase his advantage; he didn’t give up any of it, either. How they got out is how they ended up. 10.37 to 10.47. Impressive.

Now that we’ve seen how well that exhibition worked, what other exhibitions can athletics come up with to entice interest from outside the usual, hard-core athletics fan-base?

There’s the still-waiting-to-consider race between NFL speedster Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins and Paris Olympic 100-meter champion Noah Lyles. But that hasn’t progressed much since Hill’s initial challenge. 

One reason the Duplantis vs. Warholm challenge worked was because neither man was being asked to compete in his primary discipline. That carries much greater risk. And now we find out Warholm has scratched from today’s Zurich 400m hurdles because he tweaked a hammy in his 100m against Mondo. 

There’s a lesson learned. You can’t have an athlete compete in an exhibition in the same timeframe as their primary event, for exactly this reason. Now the payoff to the Mondo challenge – Karsten having to wear a hated Swedish singlet in the Zurich 400 hurdles – goes by the boards, too.

We saw the best track exhibition/promotion ever staged in 1996 when Atlanta Olympic sprint champions, Donovan Bailey (Canada, 100m) and Michael Johnson (USA, 200m and 400m) raced in Toronto over 150 meters.

Of course, the showdown itself was a dud when Johnson pulled up lame in the middle of the turn after Bailey jumped out to a lead. But the promotion worked very well, and both men earned the biggest paychecks of their careers. 

So, what other promotions can athletics come up with?  

How about: Who can sprint the farthest in one minute? We have the one-hour run, which is recognized by WA as a world-record eligible event, though it’s rarely contested. Why not the one-minute run?

Not how fast you can cover 200 or 400 meters, but how far can you sprint in 60 seconds?

The idea came to me while watching the Mando versus Karsten 100m challenge in Zürich. 

So let’s put together a list of athletes. Then have them go off like in a cycling time trial, one after the other. One minute on the clock. Who goes farthest for a big prize?

Or, take today’s high jumpers and have them compete using one of the old-fashioned techniques rather than the flop. We’ve seen Mutaz Barshim scissor-kick over 2.15m on YouTube. Anybody do any better?  

Who can vault the farthest? That might be too dangerous, though. I guess they could fling themselves into a padded landing zone. That might help. Don’t want to be breaking any bones. 

You could say the same thing about the regular pole vault, too; it’s a dangerous event. But they’ve been training in that particular discipline their whole lives, while vaulting for distance is only seen in canal vaulting in Holland in what they call Fjerljeppen. 

Here’s another one. 400m Uneven Hurdles. Still have 10 hurdles over one lap of the track. But stagger the hurdles randomly for each lane. Not overly close together, mind you. But some with an eight-step separation, one at 15, like that. See how it plays out. 

Of course, in the 3000m or 5000 meters, you could do the Team Pursuit like they do in track cycling, starting on opposite sides of the track and crossing on a time limit and see who goes farthest with fourth man/woman across the line. 

Mind you, none of these exhibitions would displace the standard competitions. Instead, like with Duplantis vs Warholm 100m, the competition would be staged independent of, but at the same site as, the traditional Diamond League meets. 

World Athletics initiated a well-considered attempt to introduce new formats last weekend in Fribourg, Switzerland at a Track Lab meeting. Some, like the one-mile steeplechase, seemed to work well. Others, like the “effective height” over a lower placed bar (4m) in the pole vault, fell flat. 

But let’s salute the fresh attempts at change. Until novel approaches, formats, exhibitions, and rivalries with other, more popular sports stars are at least attempted, athletics will find itself stuck in the same niche-lane it’s been trying to get out of for the last 30+ years. Onward!

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