Karsten Warholm and Mondo Duplantis aren’t done record chasing this season.
Warholm, the world 400m hurdles champion from Norway, and Duplantis, the pole vault sensation from Sweden, continue pursuits of long-standing world records at a Diamond League meet in Rome on Thursday.
NBCSN coverage starts at 1 p.m. ET. NBC Sports Gold also streams live for subscribers.
Warholm takes his fifth crack this summer at the 28-year-old world record in the 400m hurdles, set at the Barcelona Olympics by American Kevin Young.
Since July 2019, the Norwegian clocked four of the 12 fastest times in history. That included his personal best at his last Diamond League appearance -- 46.87 seconds to miss the record by .09 after clipping the last hurdle (just as Young did in 1992).
Warholm will either end his season in Rome or continue to the Norwegian Championships in Bergen on Sunday, his agent said.
Duplantis already broke the pole vault world record twice in February, raising it to 6.18 meters at indoor meets.
But he pursues the outdoor best as well, held by Ukrainian legend Sergey Bubka (6.14 from 1994). The 20-year-old raised in Louisiana has taken 13 unsuccessful attempts at 6.15 meters in the last 32 days.
Duplantis is expected to end his season in Doha next week.
Here are the Rome entry lists. Here’s the schedule of events (all times Eastern):
11:45 a.m. ET -- Women’s High Jump
12:25 p.m. -- Men’s Pole Vault
12:40 -- Men’s High Jump
12:43 -- Women’s 400m
12:53 -- Women’s 400m Hurdles
1:03 -- Men’s 400m Hurdles
1:13 -- Men’s 400m
1:20 -- Men’s 3000m
1:30 -- Men’s Shot Put
1:38 -- Women’s 100m Hurdles
1:47 -- Men’s 110m Hurdles
1:55 -- Women’s 800m
2:05 -- Women’s 100m
2:15 -- Men’s 100m
Here are three events to watch (statistics via Tilastopaja.org):
Men’s Pole Vault — 12:25 p.m.
Duplantis hasn’t faced much competition this season, but this field does include former world-record holder and 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie of France. Duplantis’ routine has been to win the competition, then raise the bar to 6.15 meters for record attempts. Bubka is the only man to ever clear a higher height outdoors than Duplantis’ personal best of 6.07.
Men’s 400m Hurdles -- 1:03 p.m.
Nobody else in the field has been within 1.4 seconds of Warholm’s personal best. He may not get a challenge from anybody else, but Warholm has been just fine running by himself this season, breaking the 300m hurdles world record in a solo race. He bounced back well from a 47.62 last week to clock 47.08 in Berlin on Sunday, putting him back on record watch in Rome.
Women’s 100m -- 2:05 p.m.
No chance the world record falls here. But significant for the presence of Olympic champion Elaine Thompson, set to race outside Jamaica for the first time since the 2019 World Championships, where she was shockingly fourth in the 100m and withdrew from the 200m before the semifinals. Thompson ranks second in the world this year at 10.88 seconds, trailing countrywoman and fellow Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (who ran 10.86 but is not in the Rome field). Also in Rome: Ivorian Marie-Josée Ta Lou, a medalist at the last two world championships, and 2018 U.S. champion Aleia Hobbs.
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