Yes, Armand Duplanti’s first attempt at 6.19 was not at all uneventful, and showed that it is more a question of “when” rather than “if” the 21-year-old improves his own – he has jumped 6.18 indoors and has the outdoor record of 6.15 – world record.
– The first attempt felt really good, I think it will come soon, Duplantis said in SVT’s broadcast. I have it in me, he said.
Maybe the full match will already be on Sunday, at the Stadium in Stockholm, in the next Diamond League competition?
Now he had to make do with the stadium record at Bislett. 6.01 was also the victory jump in the competition. This is when the American Sam Kendricks – who defeated Duplantis in Gateshead – tore himself to that height.
July 31st is the pole vault qualifier at the Olympics in Tokyo, and August 3rd is the final. And with it around the corner, the big gold jump shows Duplanti’s great form. He jumped 6.10 in Dutch Hengalo – his second best result outdoors – on June 6. Last week, he managed 6 meters despite deplorable conditions in a rainy Karlstad.
In Oslo, Duplantis entered the competition last at 5.61 – and took the height playfully easily. Then he stood over 5.71, a height that Kendricks, by the way, only managed in the third attempt. After that, Duplantis managed both 5.81 and 5.91 before he was over 5.96 – and then he slipped over 6.01 in the first attempt.
Afterwards, Duplantis highlighted the audience in Oslo.
– I still try to get used to jumping in front of an audience again. It feels great. It’s been a long time since there was such good energy. I had fun out there. It was a long time since I enjoyed a competition that I did now, he said.
In the pole vault competition, Melker Svärd Jacobsson stepped in and tore himself out at 5.51 meters. But all the more gratifying was that the 27-year-old’s coach Gustaf Hultgren was on site at Bislett – just like Yannick Tregaro, coach for the long jumper Tilde Johansson. This is despite the fact that Hultgren, Tregaro and pole vaulter Michaela Meijer were involved in a violent traffic accident as recently as last week. The trio was on their way home from Karlstads GP when the minibus they were traveling in collided with a truck and all had to be taken to hospital. Gustaf Hultgren was seriously injured and suffered several fractures.
Om Armand Duplantis is the biggest Swedish gold jump in Tokyo, discus star Daniel Ståhl is a good challenger behind it. At Bislett, Ståhl was responsible for the longest throw, when he got the discus 68.65 meters in the fifth round. That was enough to win the competition – by the smallest margin. In the Diamond League, the top three will have to settle for a decisive throw in a sixth round. There, Ståhl and the Slovenian Kristjan Ceh reached exactly the same distance, 65.72. But thanks to Ståhl’s previous longest throw, he took home the competition.
– It was fun, it was fun, said Ståhl in Swedish-Norwegian. I’m on my way, it feels good, he continued.
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