Sweden’s Armand Duplantis has claimed the pole vault gold medal with a flawless performance in Tokyo.
But not simply content with taking first place, he then gave those watching around the world the thrill of seeing an attempt on his own world record.
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Duplantis secured the gold medal when he cleared 6.02m, edging him clear of American Chris Nilsen, who managed 5.97m.
Duplantis only needed five vaults to claim the title, clearing the bar on all five jumps, often with incredible ease. The 21-year-old then pushed the bar up to a staggering 6.19m – one centimetre higher than the world record he set last year in Glasgow.
He nearly cleared that mark with both his first and third attempts, just brushing the bar with his chest, but ultimately had to settle for “only” a gold medal.
Defending champion, Brazil’s Thiago Braz, took bronze with a vault of 5.87m.
It was a forgettable night for Australia’s Kurtis Marschall, who was the first jumper eliminated after he failed to clear the opening height of 5.55m.
Marschall was one of the athletes caught up in the COVID-19 scare just before the start of the track and field program, but he refused to blame his poor performance on the lead-up.
“I wasn’t able to hit my cues tonight,” he said.
“I though my prep was perfect, all of this other stuff that happened in the background was like nothing.
“I was out there feeling awesome, I couldn’t wait to get amongst it with the boys, but sometimes that’s just sport.”
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