Athletics
The Swedish pole vaulter achieved the great title that was missing and with a stratospheric jump of 6.21 he smashed the best universal mark for the fifth time, third in 2022
The Swedish Armand Duplantis, the undisputed number one in pole vault, smashed his own world record this Sunday with a mark of 6.21 meters to win gold at the Eugene-2022 World Cup, the only title missing from his legendary record. Duplantis thus achieved a new feat in his native country by jumping 6.21 meters in his last attempt, surpassing by one centimeter the record he achieved in March when he won gold at the Indoor World Championships in Belgrade.
The Olympic champion had already beaten all his competitors and had secured the title, but he culminated his performance with another of his feats that put the finishing touch to the first World Cup held in the United States. The stands at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon erupted with jubilation and Duplantis celebrated his feat with a spectacular championship somersault.
“You have to save the best for last,” said a smiling Duplantis when referring to the programming of his final for the closing of the contest. “I’m glad I did it in that situation because there was a lot of pressure. I was the only one competing on the track and I’m glad I put on a good performance and put on a good show », he remarked after his stratospheric record.
The American Christopher Nilsen took silver, as in the Tokyo 2020 Games, and the Philippine Ernest John Obiena settled for bronze, both with jumps of 5.94 meters. The Brazilian Thiago Braz, Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and bronze four years later in Tokyo, could only be fourth with a best jump of 5.87.
Duplantis, still only 22 years old, can already exhibit his first world gold in a full showcase in which he already has titles of European champion (Berlin-2018), Olympic (Tokyo 2020) and the Indoor World Championship, this same exercise in the Serbian capital.
His registration on Sunday marks his fifth world record and the third in 2022. Before the extraordinary appearance of the Swede on the scene, the record belonged to Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie (6.16 meters in 2014), who was fifth in Eugene at 35 years old .
He represents Sweden, the country of his mother, but Duplantis was born and raised in the American city of Lafayette, Louisiana. “Not bad,” Duplantis joked, microphone in hand. before his fans. You “have given me good energy to help me get ahead. It was beautiful, I love Eugene », he added.
Thanks to this sovereign success, the Nordic pole vaulter collected the only debt he had pending, after his disappointing silver in the previous 2019 World Cup. On that occasion he was beaten by the American Sam Kendricks, absent in Eugene due to a recent surgical intervention
In the Eugene final, Duplantis cleared the 5.70m first and needed two attempts to clear the 5.87m bar. From that moment on, an exhibition, with 5.94, 6.00 and 6.06 at the first attempt. With this last mark he beat the previous World Cup record, established by the Australian Dmitri Markov in Canada in 2001, by one centimeter.
At this point, Duplantis already had Eugene’s gold secured and doubled down to attack the 6.20 border. He missed at first, but had time to collect himself and concentrate. While the last race of the 4×400 relay was being played, the Swede captured the attention of the entire stadium and surpassed the hitherto unattainable bar of 6.21.
That world record put the culmination of ten days of competitions at the Oregon World Cup, dominated, how could it be otherwise, by the United States. The local team has swept the medal table, with a total of 33 metals (13 gold, 9 silver and 11 bronze), followed in the distance by three countries with 10: Ethiopia (4-4-2), Jamaica ( 2-7-1) and Kenya (2-5-3).
#Duplantis #puts #record #brooch #Eugene #World #Cup