Few, if any, athletes in the world are as superior as Armand “Mondo” Duplantis is.
He has shown that many times in his career, and he did it again tonight.
OS i Paris 2024
Kendricks got Olympic revenge
At the Stade de France, he flew over both 5.70, 5.85, 5.95 and 6.00 easily in the first attempt.
Up to 6.00, he had two competitors with him: American Sam Kendricks – who had cleared 5.95 in the first attempt – and Greek Emmanouil Karalis, who tore first at 5.95 to save two jumps to 6.00.
Karalis never close
And after Duplantis flew high above 6.00, most people saw that the victory would probably be finished there.
Karalis wasn’t even close at the height, and even Kendricks ripped pretty badly on all three attempts. – and Duplanti’s second straight Olympic gold was complete.
Bettered the Olympic record
After the victory was complete, Duplantis, who also has four World Cup and four European Championship gold medals on his track record, asked for a bar of 6.10 – which he passed easily. In doing so, he bettered the Olympic record set by Brazilian Thiago Braz when he won the Olympics on home soil in 2016 in 6.03.
He then requested to raise the bar at the world record height of 6.25.
Passed on the third attempt
The first attempt was a close rip, just like the second.
But in the third attempt he jumped over the crossbar – and the whole Stade de France exploded in cheers. It was the ninth time he improved the world record. He set the first record in February 2020 when he jumped 6.17 in Torun, Poland.
Kissed the girlfriend
There were huge scenes of joy after Duplantis managed the world record. All the other races were over, but everyone in the crowd was ready to follow Duplantis.
Duplantis jumped, bounced and quickly ran up to girlfriend Desiré Inglander in the stands and kissed her.
He then looked into the TV cameras, pointed to the Sweden text on the shirt, and shouted:
– Who is like us? Sweden is on top!
With the victory, Duplantis became only the third pole vaulter to win two Olympic golds. Those who have done it before are Bob Richards (1952 and 1956) and Jelena Isinbajeva (2004 and 2008).
CUT: Watch as Armand Duplantis secures Olympic gold
Javascript must be enabled to play video
Watch the jump that secured the gold in the player above. Photo: Kanal 5/Max/Bildbyrån
