There are a few events at the Olympic Games that have a clear favorite. Such was the case with the men's pole vault. Armand “Mondo” Duplantis has been a real phenomenon for several years. In 2020, he broke Serhiy Bubka's 26-year-old world record. Shortly after, he won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Repeating this feat in Paris was not 100% satisfactory, however. He had to add to this the breaking of his world record.
What a story! 24-year-old phenomenon breaks world record for sixth time
The Swede, who is not even 25 years old, quickly secured the gold medal, which came as no surprise to the experts, fans or even his rivals who cheered him on as he made history sports. First, when he cleared the bar set at 6.05m, which was an Olympic record.
But that wasn't enough for Duplantis. He asked the judges to set the bar at 6.25 meters, which meant an attempt to break the world record. That, of course, belonged to the Swede. He cleared 6.24 meters in Xiamen in April. No one in the packed 80,000-seat Stade de France stadium left their seats. Everyone wanted to witness history.
Duplantis failed his first two attempts. Once he knocked the bar down with his hand, the second time with his shin, but everyone could see that he was capable of overcoming this height. The Swede calmly regenerated before his last attempt. He rolled around, discussing with his colleagues. The entire stadium initially encouraged him and fell silent for a moment when Duplantis set off. He cleared the bar by a large margin, setting a new world record of 6.25 m. He immediately set off towards his loved ones. He hugged his partner, and his rivals, who had been cheering him on, began to congratulate him. This is the sixth world record set by the nearly 25-year-old.
– This is a man who is a pillar of the history of track and field, and he is not even 25 years old. Such figures are needed in the world of sport, in the world of track and field. Those rivals who supported him. The stands that were left for him and it was not only out of politeness. I have the impression that this entourage also carried away the whole Duplantis – said Robert Korzeniowski in the Eurosport studio.
Earlier, Armand Duplantis “paid tribute” to Yusuf Dikec, who went viral on social media. The Turk, with his hand in his pocket, won a silver medal in shooting.
The silver medal in the pole vault was won by the American Sam Kendrick's. The bronze went to Greek Emmanouil Karalis.