“Pocket Rocket” Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce challenges pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis to 100-meter race

Could the next great track and field rivalry be Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce vs….. Mondo Duplantis?

The sprint superstar from Jamaica challenged the Swedish pole vault world record holder to a 100-meter race — and he was game.

In an entertaining back-and-forth during the Brussels Diamond League meet press conference, Fraser-Pryce channeled her inner P.T. Barnum.

Taking on the role of interviewer, she picked up her microphone and raised her hand. “I have one question for Mondo, right here from Jamaica,” Fraser-Pryce said. “What will you say you can do in 100 meter? She paused. “Against me.”

Duplantis laughed. “Wait, what did you say? Against you?”

Fraser-Pryce said yes.

“Um, I would beat you, yeah,” Duplantis said emphatically.

“All right. OK. Survey says that’s a lie,” the Jamaican said, referencing the TV game show “Family Feud.” “Explain to us how sprinting and pole vault works. Because I don’t see you doing a lot of sprint work.”

Duplantis replied, “How do you know what I do?”

“I know because I see the backyard pole vault thing,” Fraser-Pryce said of his videos. " I didn’t see you do any… 20 meters, ehhhh. 10 meters run up.”

“45 meters,” said the pole vaulter.

Fraser-Pryce: “45? are you sure?”

Duplantis: “I should be sure of my own run, yeah.”

Growing up in Louisiana, Duplantis, 22, said he ran the 100-meter dash a few times in high school back in 2018.

He ran a wind-aided 10.57, with the tailwind of 2.1 meters per second, just slightly above the limit. He also ran a 10.69 with no wind reading available.

Fraser-Pryce, 35, ran her personal best of 10.60 almost exactly a year ago in Lausanne, Switzerland and has run 10.67 or faster six times this season, including 10.62 on Aug. 10 in Monaco.

Fraser-Pryce, a five-time world champion in the event, including this year, retorted that Duplantis ran his races five years ago.

“And I’m a lot faster than I was five years ago,” Duplantis added.

“Wanna bet?” said Fraser-Pryce.

“I would wanna bet A LOT!” said Duplantis, and they shook hands on it, reaching across U.S. sprinter Erriyon Knighton, who was sitting on the stage between them.

“OK. thank you,” said Fraser-Pryce.

“Good,” said Duplantis.

The moderator jumped in offering to put a 100-meter race together for them.

“Next year, Brussels, me against Shelly-Ann, the 100-meter battle,” said Duplantis.

The Diamond League tweeted, “It. Is. On,” which Duplantis retweeted with a pair of eye emojis. World Athletics put together a mock poster of the showdown, calling it “100M CHALLENGE, MONDO vs. SHELLY-ANN,” with “coming in 2023???” in small print.

Could it really happen? The sport thrives on rivalries — Fraser-Pryce has been part of many in a career spanning four Olympic Games — and this could bring attention in a non-Olympic year.

Back in 1997, 100-meter Olympic gold medalist Donovan Bailey of Canada raced 200/400 champion Michael Johnson in a 150-meter race to settle a dispute about who was truly the “world’s fastest man.”

The winner would take home $1 million in prize money, with both receiving a $500,000 appearance fee.

A crowd of 30,000 people turned up for the race in Toronto’s SkyDome, which included a performance by the Blues Brothers, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.

However, Johnson pulled up at 110 meters with a pulled muscle for an anti-climactic end to the fanfare.

Duplantis, the world and Olympic champ, is the unrivaled king of the pole vault and might not want to step out of his comfort zone, especially to take on someone of Fraser-Pryce’s caliber. After, all the 5-foot-tall sprinter is called the “Pocket Rocket” and has won eight Olympic medals — three gold, four silver and a bronze in the sprints. She won the 100 in 2008 and 2012 and was second last year in Tokyo.

Some online commenters thought it would be more fun to see Fraser-Pryce pole vault.

Will someone put up the money to see this challenge materialize? Stay tuned.