PARIS: It was a high-voltage atmosphere at the Stade-de-France on Monday night, one pole vault superstar Armand Duplantis compared with an American football game.The stage was set for the world’s most flamboyant athlete, popular as Mondo, to not only defend his title but also better his own world mark on the brand new track.
The colourful Swede had the whole world as his stage as he wowed the fans with the viral pose of Turkiye shooter Yusuf Dikec after pocketing the Olympic record when the bar was raised to 6.10m. Duplantis then went after his own heights after his rivals failed to go above 5.95m. The world record holder at 6.24m asked it to be raised by another centimetre and began his quest to clear 6.25m or 20.5 feet.
The first attempt was nearly flawless except for a mild clip that shook the bar enough to follow the champion on to the mat. The second try, each attempt after a gap of five minutes during which the spectators sang and danced to popular numbers, was not as good as the first as he almost sat on the bar.
Among those egging him on was American Sam Kendrickswho had pocketed the silver with a season’s best vault of 5.95m. Duplantis waited for another five minutes and then took the pole to head to the top of his run-up. This time everything went right, as the slow clap grew stronger and stronger, as he hit the runway with great speed and lifted off perfectly and sailed over the bar, which remained intact, to help Duplantis set his ninth world record.
“I’ve visualised this moment a million times in my life. I mean, this is every time I was in my backyard,” he said. “I would just imagine that the bar was at the world record mark. It was the Olympic final that’s pretty much exactly what I visualised.
“If I don’t beat this moment in my career, then I’m pretty pretty okay with that. You know, I don’t think you really can get much better than what just happened. So it’s dang amazing.”
Asked what went through his mind before the record leap, he said: “I tried to clear my thoughts as much as I could. 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 tried to channel the energy everybody was giving me, and they were giving me a lot. It worked out.”
Kendricks, one of Duplantis’ big fans, was elated with his show. “I was jumping well with good friends, in front of my family, my baby boy was out in the crowd. Gave him a kiss after every jump, gave my wife a kiss after every jump, that’s just so special. Make or miss, medal or no medal, I was going to make it fun. I was going to put the pressure on everyone to look at us, look at us in the wide open space, under the bright lights together, that’s what sport is about.”
“There’s a lot of excitement that comes along with the Olympics. Some call it the world’s biggest scam, but it’s a very positive scam. I told my wife not to come. But she said she’s going to come. So I said bring everybody, make Paris a party.”
The American was also happy that he would get a treat from the champion. “I started a tradition a few years ago, when Mondo became so hard to beat… I like to think that I taught him how to compete so well through all those years, bringing him up the little line. The winner buys dinner. Mondo won by a lot tonight, so he’s going to buy us dinner.”
