Paris (AFP) – Sweden’s Armand Duplantis improved his own world record en route to retaining his Olympic pole vault title in Paris on Monday. In a sensational finish to the fifth day of track and field at the Stade de France, Duplantis sailed over the bar raised to 6.25 metres to rapturous applause from a 69,000-capacity crowd. It bettered by 1cm his own previous best of 6.24m set at the Xiamen Diamond League meet in April. Remarkably, it was the ninth time the US-born Swede had broken the record.
In the competition before the procession, American Sam Kendricks won silver with a best of 5.95m, Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis taking bronze (5.90) on countback. The gold meant Duplantis became the first man to retain the pole vault title since American Bob Richards in 1952 and 1956. It had been, he said, an “out-of-body experience.”
“What can I say? I just broke a world record at the Olympics, the biggest possible stage for a pole vaulter,” said Duplantis. “The biggest dream since a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics, and I’ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of.” As soon as he crashed down on the landing mat after his third and final successful attempt at 6.25m, Duplantis bounced away on the track to embrace family and friends in the stands.
Draped in the Swedish flag and with Abba’s “Dancing Queen” booming around the stadium, Duplantis made an emotional lap of the track. The music halted as he leaned down to ring the victory bell, capping yet another exceptional display from the irrepressible 24-year-old.
Competition opened in perfect, balmy conditions at 5.50 metres. Duplantis skipped that, all of his 11 opponents opting, successfully, to make an attempt. The Swede came in at 5.70m, sailing over with no problem. He skipped 5.80m, by which time four athletes had dropped out.
Duplantis then cleared 5.85m in his second vault of the night by a considerable margin. Kendricks followed suit, and the pair then went over at 5.95m. That proved too much for the rest of the field as Australian Kurtis Marschall, Turkey’s Ersu Sasma, Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines, and Karalis fell by the wayside. Karalis took bronze on 5.90m countback from Obiena, but passed on 5.95.
The bar was raised to 6.00m. First up was Kendricks, but he brought down the bar. Duplantis followed and made no mistake, to the delight of a raucous crowd at France’s national stadium. Kendricks had two more failures, leaving just Duplantis in the competition. The bar was immediately raised to 6.10m, which posed no problem for the Swede.
The crowd erupted as the in-track panels flashed up the next height: 6.25m, a world record mark. His first effort was very close, catching the bar with his elbow. For his second attempt, Duplantis asked for the slow clap in unison made famous by supporters of Iceland’s football team. There were no demands for the third, just total concentration.
“I tried to clear my thoughts as much as I could,” Duplantis said. “The crowd was going crazy. It was so loud in there, it sounded like an American football game. I have a little bit of experience being in a 100,000-capacity stadium, but I was never the centre of attention. I was just trying to channel the energy everybody was giving me, and they were giving me a lot of it. It worked out.”
As he accelerated down the runway, yellow pole held aloft, the crowd bayed. Successfully planted, the pole flexed and up shot Duplantis, body bending so his feet went up first. Then came the explosion of delight, with another world record and a second Olympic gold bagged in a memorable night’s work.
But celebrations will not end there. “I started a tradition a few years ago, when Mondo (Duplantis) became so hard to beat,” said Kendricks. “The winner buys dinner. Mondo won by a lot tonight, so he’s going to buy us dinner.” Duplantis added, “The party is going to be pretty big. Not that much sleep, a lot of partying, a good time.”
© 2024 AFP
