Sweden’s Armand Duplantis breaks the pole vault world record with 6.25

Sweden’s Armand Duplantis set a new world record in the pole vault on Monday in Saint-Denis with a jump of 6.25, one centimetre more than his previous best.

At the Stade de France, packed with almost 80,000 spectators, Duplantis continued to add to his legend with another victory, his second Olympic triumph, after a competition in which he had no rivals.

Duplantis has been competing against himself for a long time. Every competition he goes to, he wins. He is the best pole vaulter in history and, apart from his medals, his records prove it. He arrived in Paris as the world record holder with 6.24 metres, a record that years ago seemed unthinkable for anyone and that, today (Monday), seems unthinkable for his rivals. The proof is that of the thirty remaining competitors in Paris only five arrived at the Games having the six metres.

Classification

After the qualification process, the final was like a training session for the Swede, who was sometimes seen relaxed, without nerves, talking to his rivals and even sitting on the bench with a blank look, a reflection of relaxation.

He claimed victory with a jump of 6.25 metres on his third attempt, breaking his own world record and also taking the Olympic record from Brazilian Thiago Braz, who had set it at 6.03 metres on 15 August 2016.

The Scandinavian, very confident in himself, reserved his best to close the day of athletics in Saint-Denis, from where he emerged hailed as a true hero in recognition of the feat he performed that astonished the entire world.

Companions on the podium

The silver medal went to the American Sam Kendricks with 5.95, and the bronze medal to the Greek Emmanouil Karalis with 5.90.

In 2018, at the European Championships in Berlin, her reign began, which six years later continues with an impressive collection of titles: two Olympic golds in Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, two World Championships (2022 and 2023) outdoors and two indoors (2022 and 2024), three European Championships outdoors (2018, 2022 and 2024) and one indoors (2021).

His latest great achievement was the new world record he set at the Xiamen Diamond League (China) in April with 6.24 metres. The question is whether in Paris, with the gold already assured, he will try to beat that mark cheered on by the public, as he likes best.

Paris / EFE