This year's athletics competition at the Bislett stadium in Oslo, Impossible Games, will be of the odd kind.

Due to the corona crisis, no audience will be present, and on the racetrack, several of the participants will line up at distances they do not normally run. In addition, the world's leading skier on the women's side, Therese Johaug, will stand as a lone competitor at 10,000 meters in hopes of qualifying for the World Cup.

But it doesn't stay there.

"Strange feeling"

The day before Thursday's gala, the Swedish-American world record holder in the pole vault, Armand Duplantis, was told that his most difficult opponent, Renaud Lavillenie, had already completed the competition at home in his backyard in France.

This was revealed at Wednesday's press conference in Oslo.

- This was not something you were used to. You did not feel the press in the same way because you had not seen if someone else had passed a height or not. It was a strange feeling, Lavillenie said on a link from his home in France where he had already competed in his backyard.

How he did, however, he retains for himself to preserve the excitement of tomorrow's competition, where the Frenchman's hope will be shown in reprise, parallel to the other jumpers at Bislett Stadium.

Spell jump first

Armand Duplantis, on location in Oslo, received the message with surprise from the scene of the press conference.

- Really strange ... I didn't know he was competing. It will be strange, he said surprised.

- But it's pretty cool that his results are unknown.

The stake jump starts the gala at Bislett Stadium which starts at 19.25 on Thursday.