Duplantis: ‘He’s a dark horse’
Oslo. Ahead of the Bislet Games in Oslo, Mundo Duplantis chose to honor his Swedish teammate.
Karl Bengstrom in the 400 hurdles.
Yes, he is a dark horse in the World Cup. He is a competitor. It grows more. I believe in it. Get what it takes, says Mundo.
But while the world’s television crew and the world’s journalists are interviewing international superstar Mundo at the famous Strawberry Party here in Oslo, 22-year-old Bengstrom is still at the hotel with an elusive dream of an equally bright future.
He took the bus from Gothenburg to Oslo, missed lunch at the hotel, and had to order homemade pasta carbonara to keep carb intake at the right level ahead of Thursday’s Diamond League competitions.
But Karl Bengström impressed more than Mundo and made the Swedish athletes hope to get Swede Karsten Warholm.
The now injured Norwegian who showed that anything is possible after the Olympic gold medal and world record at the Olympics in Tokyo and who was closely followed by Karl Bengstrom.
– Yes, obviously, I was watching him. I go my own way, but I see that it is possible to go from the beginning and continue all the way. Karl says it’s very cool.
And the Norwegian could be the best in the world at 400 hurdles, so why not the Swede.
Karl Bingstrom has also lived up to the old cliché of coming out strong and then increasing.
“I’m not in good shape”
That’s how the 22-year-old from Gothenburg came home with a thrilling bronze medal at the World Cup indoors at the 400m plain in Belgrade last winter.
He broke the old Swedish indoor record set by Gimisola Laursen, with 16 hundredths.
And now he’s looking for a new and even older record – Sven Nylanders 47.98 that has held since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Could he actually come in Oslo on Thursday night?
– Yes, I will not say that I am in good shape now, since training in the World Cup has been canceled. But she felt really good in the last workouts, even though I don’t want to prepare too much. But the higher level will come in the World Cup and everything else is a bonus.
After the Bronze World Cup indoors in Belgrade, did you promise that Sven Nylander’s record would be broken this summer?
– Yes, it seems that he will come during the summer. I hope that. But when and where I can not say now.
But there is no doubt that the 400 hurdles has grown into one of the hottest branches of athletics, after laying dormant for the two decades since the Edwin Moses success story ended.
In Tokyo, Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Karsten Warholm and American Sydney McLaughlin were the hottest and highest-paid star in athletics.
– It’s so much fun with the hype that it’s getting around the branch and at the same time it’s tough with so many good guys. I don’t know why it became so, because it’s hard to learn. But I am just grateful.
Carl Bengtström had all the conditions to have a good time here in Oslo, even if home star Karsten Warholm is missing.
He had the fifth track with Brazilian superstar and world class players Alison dos Santos in the seventh lane to turn his back on.
Thursday night we know.
List of the 400 best hurdles in the world 2022
47.23 Alison dos Santos, Brazil
47.49 Ray Benjamin, USA
47.82 Rasmus Maggi, Estonia
48.10 Khallifah Rosser, USA
48.10 Quincy Hall, USA
48.42 Ezekiel Nathaniel, Nigeria
48.52 Karl Bengström, Sweden