Mondo Duplantis interrupted Noah Lyles’ press convention to cheekily tease him about his latest run-in with Kenny Bednarek.
The three athletes are all in motion on Saturday, because the Diamond League returns to Silesia, Poland, with loads of rivalries set to renew.
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However maybe none can be extra heated than Lyles and Bednarek’s, after an explosive showdown between the pair on the US monitor championships.
In a hotly-contested 200m last in Eugene, Oregon, it was Olympic champion Lyles who claimed a dramatic victory.
He handed Bednarek and crossed the road in 19.63 seconds, for a .04-second victory.
Lyles stared his rival down as he beat him to first place, and Bednarek responded with a two-handed shove within the again.
This brought about the record-breaking 100m Olympic champion to show round and backpedal because the state of affairs almost boiled over.
He reached his arms out and bounced up and down earlier than extra heated phrases have been exchanged post-race.
The fiery incident sparked a disagreement afterwords, with Bednarek branding Lyles’ actions ‘unsportsmanlike’.
And with the duo now set to conflict once more in Silesia this weekend, fellow Olympic champion Duplantis made certain to carry up the reunion on everybody’s thoughts.
On the finish of a pre-tournament multi-athlete press convention, the Swede smiled earlier than asking: “Can I ask Noah a query?
“I need to ask Noah about that stare down and that push? As a result of that s*** was sort of loopy sport.”
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Lyles then gave the identical reply he gave straight after his showdown with Bednarek, when he was instructed by his coach to stay silent.
The 28-year-old laughed and repeated: “As coach mentioned, ‘no remark’
Duplantis did not press: “Truthful sufficient. I loved it although.”
Lyles was then given an opportunity to get again at Duplantis, as he was requested if he had any questions for the pole vault famous person.
As a substitute, the US star had a warning, saying: “Do not break the world report so I can get the ring,” in reference to the ring awarded by meet organisers for the most effective efficiency.
The US-born Swedish athlete laughed, earlier than he quipped again: “No remark.”
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There may be each probability Duplantis will write his identify into the historical past books in Silesia, having made an unimaginable behavior of it.
He set his thirteenth world report of his profession on Tuesday in Hungary, including one other centimetre to his all-time finest, as he cleared 6.29m.
This was the 25-year-old’s third world report of 2025, a 12 months after he gained his second Olympic gold medal in Paris by hovering to six.26m.
However the primary occasion this weekend will certainly be the 100m, as Bednarek appears to be like to get his personal again on Lyles.
And this is not the one rivalry which is ready to be renewed within the occasion, with Kishane Thompson additionally participating, in a rematch of his and Lyles’ Paris 2024 duel.
A 12 months in the past, the American clinched gold by the best of margins, as he pipped Thompson to the end line by five-thousandths of a second.
This weekend’s eagerly-anticipated Diamond League meet will act as an ideal warm-up act to the upcoming World Athletics Championship in Tokyo, which will get underway on September 13.