The Swedish pole vaulter took the big title that was missing and with a stratospheric jump of 6.21 he broke the best universal mark for the fifth time, third in 2022
Swede Armand Duplantis, the undisputed number one in pole vault, broke his own world record this Sunday with a 6.21 meter mark to win gold at the Eugene 2022 World Cup, the only title missing from his legendary record. Duplantis thus achieved another feat in his native country by jumping 6.21 meters in his last attempt, surpassing by one centimeter the record he set in March when he won gold at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
The Olympic champion had beaten all of his competitors and secured the title, but he culminated his feat with one more of his feats that put the finishing touches to the first World Cup held in the United States. The stands at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon erupted with cheers and Duplantis celebrated his achievement with a spectacular championship salvo.
“You have to save the best for last,” said a smiling Duplantis, referring to the programming of his final before the end of the competition. “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 did a good performance and put on a good show,” he commented. after his stratospheric record.
Just like at the Tokyo 2020 Games, American Christopher Nilsen took silver and Philippine Ernest John Obiena took bronze with jumps of 5.94 meters. Brazilian Thiago Braz, Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro 2016 and bronze in Tokyo four years later, was only fourth with a best jump of 5.87.
Duplantis, 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, the same exercise in the Serbian capital.
His registration on Sunday marks his fifth world record and the third in 2022. Before the Swede came on the scene, the record belonged to Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie (6.16 meters in 2014), who finished fifth in Eugene at the age of 35 .
He represents Sweden, his mother’s country, but Duplantis was born and raised in the American city of Lafayette, Louisiana. “Not bad,” Duplantis joked, mic in hand. for his fans. You have given me good energy to move me forward. It’s been beautiful, I love Eugene,” he added.
Thanks to this sovereign success, the Nordic pole vaulter took the only debt he had left after his disappointing silver in the previous 2019 World Cup. On that occasion, he was defeated by American Sam Kendricks, absent from Eugene due to a recent surgery.
In the Eugene final, Duplantis was the first to clear the 5.70m and needed two tries to clear the 5.87m bar. From then on an exhibition, with 5.94, 6.00 and 6.06 on the first attempt. With the latter figure, he improved the previous World Cup record, set by Australian Dmitri Markov in Canada in 2001, by one centimeter.
At that point, Duplantis had already secured Eugene’s gold and doubled it to attack the 6:20 mark. He missed at first, but had time to recover and concentrate. As the final race of the 4×400 relay was played, the Swede caught the attention of the entire stadium, surpassing the hitherto unreachable 6.21 bar.
That world record was the culmination of ten days of competition 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).
Source: La Verdad
I’m an experienced news author and editor based in New York City. I specialize in covering healthcare news stories for Today Times Live, helping to keep readers informed on the latest developments related to the industry. I have a deep understanding of medical topics, including emerging treatments and drugs, the changing laws that regulate healthcare providers, and other matters that affect public health.
